


Blueberry Times Arc

by KuiperNebula



Series: Sails and Stardust [1]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Gen, Self-Insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-21
Updated: 2018-10-17
Packaged: 2019-03-07 10:39:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 32,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13432956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KuiperNebula/pseuds/KuiperNebula
Summary: When Blueberry Times intern Scott finds himself adrift on the Grand Line with nothing but the clothes on his back, he's pretty sure he's going to die. Until he runs into the Strawhat Pirates. But when they offer to take him back to Cyanoc Island, they all get embroiled in a plot that threatens more than just the island. Can Scott help Luffy and company with this threat? Or will his own fears hold him back?A One Piece self-insert series, starting with a completely original arc set between Alabasta and Jaya.





	1. Lost in Blue

So this is how I die.

In the world’s deadliest ocean. In a rowboat. With no oars. In week-old clothes. And no shoes. And I’m waking up to the sound of seagulls eating my supplies.

Well, it’s not like it could get any worse.

I sit up and shoo away the birds, who all take off when they get the hint. The sudden motion of both me and the birds caused the boat to shake, so I had to wait another few minutes to stand up. I needed to stretch, even if it meant risking falling in the water. Again. If I was going to die, I wasn’t going to die stiff and miserable. I’ll just die _loose_ and miserable.

This being the Grand Line, the sky and sea were a seamless pale blue-green, with a white-hot sun hanging over my head. I reached my hands up to the sky, still careful of my balance. If I fell in, well… I gingerly turned in place, sitting on the other side of the boat to get my face away from the sun. I grabbed my journal from the floor as if it would help in some way.

“Pirate Attack on Cyanoc Island.” Every time I tried to reword that title, come close to the truth, I stopped myself. Even I couldn’t believe it, but the lie we all had believed still made my blood boil. After all this time, after all we’d done for him, after all the whole island had done for him—

I took a deep breath, tossing the journal back to the floor.

Realistically, I had no plan, no tools, and no way out. And I was anywhere from a day to a week away from dying of starvation or dehydration. All I could do was wait for death or a ship. And if that ship was pirates, I was doomed. And if it was Marines… Well, I never did well with authority, but it’d be better. I guess I could also find a News Coo, but that would all depend on getting someone who could understand birds.

Great. My last resort is the Bird Whisperer. I really am getting desperate.

“At least they left me an eternal pose,” I muttered, picking up my only other belonging. It pointed behind me, away from the direction I’d been drifting for the last day. Or so I had assumed, given we clearly weren’t getting any closer. It was hard to tell when my only landmarks were water and… well, more water.

“Even if I could use it,” I leaned back, resting my back against the edge of the boat, “What would I do?”

“Yahooo!”

A boy’s voice, energetic and bold, came from the distance, echoing across the calm ocean waters. I bolted upright, almost knocking myself out of boat, straining over the edge to find that voice.

I could make out a ship, in the distance. I don’t know how I missed it earlier, but it was getting closer. It had a cartoonish goat as a figurehead, smiling as if to be welcoming. I smiled besides myself, my eyes scanning up to find the crew. Then I saw the Jolly Roger.

I swallowed hard.

It hung not only as its flag, on the traditional black background, but also as its emblem on its main sail. These were not pirates bent on subterfuge, which reduced my chances of survival.

My eyes caught the trees in the back, with oranges or tangerines — some member of the citrus family, at least. An odd thing to see on a ship, but so was the guy just standing on the figurehead. I couldn’t make much out about him from this distance.

“Yahooo!” He yelled again, louder than last time. I couldn’t tell how much of that was distance and how much of it was him just being louder, but I had a feeling it was both. I steeled myself, and stood up.

“H—” The words caught in my throat. Was I really about to ask _pirates_ for _help_?

Did I have a choice?

“Help!” I shouted into the distance. I waved my arms, and again, louder this time, “Help!!”

I couldn’t make out much of the guy still, but he seemed to acknowledge me, since he jumped and ran back onto the main deck. My heart stopped. I shook my head of the disaster scenarios playing in my head. At least they would all be more pleasant than dehydration.

“Help! Help!”

After a moment, I saw some more figures come to the front of the ship, some waving excitedly and others speaking animatedly. I couldn’t make them out from here, but that they’d come back out at all filled me with hope.

“Please! Help me!”

“Hold on!” I heard from the ship, though it was hard to make out who was saying it this time. It was a young woman’s voice, though. Late teens or early 20’s, though I’d never been good at guessing age. “We’re coming!”

It didn’t take the ship very long to come in, but it felt like an eternity. I could see the boy with the hat now, much younger than I’d ever seen a pirate, with tanned skin, short black hair, a red vest, and a straw hat on his head. It was only now that I noticed the same hat on the jolly roger. Either it was a thing they did, or he was somehow related to the captain. He was helping move rope from below, handing it off to a young woman. She was older, with pale skin and short ginger hair. She was giving instructions to the rest of the crew, but she didn’t seem to be their captain.

“We’re almost there!” I heard a child’s voice, but I couldn’t find it. “Are you hurt? Is there anyone with you?”

“I — I’m fine! I think!” I tried, still scanning the ship, “It’s just me! Please, if you could let me aboard —” I stopped when I saw the person talking. They were closer to a tanuki than a person, with antlers and a top-hat

I must have been more delirious than I thought.

“We’re coming in hot!” Another man’s voice, deeper and very annoyed. I couldn’t see this one, but I braced myself as the waves off the ship rocked my lifeboat. He wasn’t kidding. I grabbed my journal and the Eternal Pose, stuffing them into the pockets of my hoodie-vest.

“Here, take this!” A different man, higher pitched and friendly.  Looking up, I saw a man in overalls, with darker skin and a long nose, who threw a rope down at me. I tried to grab it, but my boat was pushed away by the waves of the ship.

“One more time,” He said to himself, throwing it at me. I lunged for it, and found myself in the ocean — but in possession of the much-needed rope. In the back of my mind, I hoped I could salvage my journal after this. But I tugged on the rope, pulling myself as much as I could. I was pure adrenaline at this point, and it felt like a miracle when I crashed onto the deck.

I stood up, taking in the surroundings of my saviors.

“Thank—”

And everything went black.

“Are we sure it’s safe to take him in?”

“What else were we going to do, leave him to die?”

“We took in Johnny and Yosaku, and _they_ tried to kill us. Besides, if he turns on us, we can just beat him up.”

“Is that your answer to everything?”

It took me a minute to realize the voices were real, but my dreamless sleep was, unfortunately, not enough to make me forget where I was. A pirate ship in the middle of nowhere was not… ideal, but they’d saved me and hadn’t eaten of my flesh (yet), so I really didn’t have room to complain.

It took me only slightly longer to realize I was sore all over. I guess that’s what happens when you sleep on a wood boat for a week straight. I sat up slowly, taking a look around the room. It was small and lined with wood, and I realized with surprised, furnished with couches and hammocks.

My heart stopped short, briefly, when I noticed a figure hiding behind a column in the center of the room — the mast, I guessed. The figure was small and furry, with a top hat and antlers. Which really didn’t help me out in any way, but at least I knew I saw him before I passed out.

The odds on him being real were about 50/50.

We stared at each other, not really moving, as I was a bit put off by the whole experience and the… tanuki, I guess, seemed to be figuring out if I was a threat. Or that’s what I got out of his death stare. Eventually I decided I had to break the ice.

“Uh.” Good start. “Hi.”

“Hi.” His voice was high and boyish which, in addition to his size, made him seem very young.

We paused again, letting the awkward start again. I tried again. “So.” I broke his gaze, looking around the room for something, _anything_ , to talk about. “Nice ship you have here?” He didn’t respond, which did not help me at all.

Eventually, he spoke again, still sounding hesitant. “You shouldn’t move around so much,” He scooted behind the table a little more, “You had a lot of bruises when we found you, so those probably still hurt, right?”

“Yeah.” I blinked.

“We’re almost out of painkillers, but let me know if it gets too bad,” He continued, unmoving. “But I’m more worried about your food and water intake.”

“… are you a… doctor?”

He nodded, expression unchanged. “You can call me Chopper.” A pause, as if deciding how to continue.

“And you’re a tanuki?”

“I’m not a tanuki!” Must have been a sore spot. “I’m a reindeer!” He had jumped out of cover, pointing a surprisingly articulate hoof at his head, “See these antlers? They’re proof I’m a reindeer!”

“Okay…?” I leaned in. “I’m sorry, I’ve just never seen a talking reindeer before.” I looked him up and down. “Or a bipedal one. Though I guess I haven’t seen a reindeer _at all_ before, so I’ll defer to the expert. I gestured to him. He seemed proud for a moment, before ducking back behind the mast.

He was back behind the table, but he seemed to have loosened up a bit.

“So how’s…?” I paused. What could I even ask about?

“You’ll be fine,” He said. I guess business was easier for him to talk about. “You just need to rest for a few days, which should be fine depending on where you need to go.” He nodded sagely.

“I see.”

A pause.

“I’ll go get Luffy and the others.” He scrambled up the ladder on the side of the mast, but scrambled back down when the door in the ceiling started to open.

“Hope you don’t mind seafood.” He was facing away from me, skillfully balancing a covered tray in one hand and climbing down the ladder with his other. He was blond and thin, but toned, I noticed immediately. When he reached the floor, he turned to the table, giving me a look at his face. One of his eyes was covered by bangs and he had the start of a goatee, which only made him more attractive. The tray placed on the table, he pulled his cigarette out of his mouth, blowing a ring of smoke into the air.

The man stopped when he noticed I was staring. “It’s good to see you’re up.” His voice was smooth and of middling range, perhaps made gravelly by smoking. That could just be my imagination, though. “We thought you were a goner for a minute there. I’m Sanji.”

We shook hands, but his grip was firmer than I expected. And it hurt more to move than I expected, which didn’t help. Despite the silvery dome, the smell of seafood was wafting off the table. Now that I could smell food, my biggest concern was the hole burrowing through my stomach. Guess I had spent long enough ignoring it.

“Scott.” I tried not to salivate, but given the circumstance the best I could do was wipe it off as it came.

“You feeling any better?”

“I guess,” I slowly scooted forward as he pushed the coffee table towards me. “Honestly, at this point, I’m not convinced I’m not hallucinating..”

“Not used to pirates saving your life, huh?” He smiled to himself, taking his cigarette out to puff another ring of smoke. “I imagine that’d be a shock to just about anyone.” He leaned against a stool, blocking my view of Chopper, though we weren’t having much of a conversation in the first place.

“So you’re really pirates?” Even with the jolly roger, hearing it out loud made it more real, almost.

“Don’t worry, we aren’t going to hurt you,” He waved the thought away, shifting his posture to get more comfortable, “We did save your life after all. But I understand why you’re worried.” He looked up towards the door, thinking, “When you’re trapped and starving you’ll accept just about any kind of help.” He paused, picking his words carefully. “And with pirates’ reputation, it’d be easy to think you could be taken advantage of. But sometimes people just want to help, I guess.”

“Thanks, really,” I tensed “I don’t want— I mean, it’s not like—”

“Don’t worry about it,” He said, getting up suddenly. “Just eat and get your strength back. We’re in the middle of the ocean, it’s not like we don’t have time for explanations later.” He shrugged, as if he didn’t really care about it in the first place. Maybe he didn’t.

I shifted in my seat, realizing my pockets were much emptier than they should be.

“Um, I don’t want to sound rude,” I braced myself. “But where did you guys put my stuff?” Realizing that came out poorly, I backpedaled, “I know I didn’t have much, but I need that eternal pose—”

“Nami has it.” He shrugged again. “She thought anyone else would break it. But if anyone knows how to treat a pose, it’s her. She’s our navigator. The best and most beautiful navigator in the Grand Line.” He was wistful, and I felt my heart drop a fraction. Oh well, that’s what I get.

“Oh.” There was silence again, and I realized he was waiting for me to start eating. I nodded, taking the lid and lifting it up. I shielded my eyes from the steam, and when I opened them—

“Shrimp!?”

It was an elaborate spread of seafood, piled carefully into its own little dome. The shrimp drew my attention, bright-red heads with pink, buttery bodies, but they were interspersed with what I guessed were crab legs, along with salad greens that seemed to be more garnish. In the center was a carefully-cut lemon, a centerpiece that could be decoration or functional, I couldn’t tell.

I felt the drool hit my chest, and I wiped it quickly.

“Do you not like shrimp?” Sanji smirked, teasing.

“Sorry.” I clamored, as Sanji pulled out a crab leg cracker and an oyster knife. Guess he wanted to surprise me.  “I just wasn’t—”

“Expecting something fancy?” He smiled to himself, blowing another puff of smoke. “I’m the greatest cook on the Grand Line. I aim to impress.” He shrugged. “Besides, we’re in shellfish waters. We got a whole bunch of crab and shrimp here.” He gestured to the tray.

“Oh.” A pause as I picked up a shrimp, turning it in my hand. “Thanks. Really. You didn’t have to—”

“Just eat up, okay?”

“Sanji! When’s our food ready?!” I heard through the door, and he frowned. He blew another puff of smoke, and got up to leave the room.

“It’ll be ready when it’s ready!” He yelled out the door, before turning back. “I’ll let them know you’re up, so be prepared when they’re done with dinner.” And then he walked out of the room.

The men’s quarters, as Chopper explained before he left, were connected directly to the main deck via the mast. Which seemed inconvenient, but I really wasn’t in a good place to complain about ship design. But Sanji’d used the door before, so it wasn’t hard for me to figure out how it opened up.

It was a warm sunny day, as apparently I hadn’t been out so long that we’d passed this calm patch. That or I’d been out long enough to find another one. The Grand Line was unpredictable like that. I guessed everyone was still eating, given the lack of people on the main deck, so I took a moment to just walk around.

The ship itself seemed pretty basic, even now that I had a clearer head to see it. It seemed to be a three-level deck, with the main deck, where I was now, the lowest of the three. There was a higher deck both at the front and back, but the back was the one with the grove of citrus trees.

“Well that’s new…” I shrugged, walking towards the stairs.

“What are you doing out of bed!?” I almost jumped out of my skin. “I told you to rest.”

“I was stiff…” I admitted, as Chopper ran up from the stairs and started pushing me back the door. It seemed the upper deck’s enclosed area was the galley, as the crew or at least most of it, was following behind him.

“Oh, he’s awake!”

“Sanji said that earlier…”

“I knew you’d pull through!”

“Then why did you go on about hiding the evidence for _ten minutes?!”_

Ah. So that’s how today’s going to go.

The young man with the straw hat — the one from earlier — had taken no time getting in my face. I could have sworn he almost stretched up to me, but that wasn’t really possible. Or at least, conventionally possible.

“I’m Luffy!” He grinned at me, as if that should mean something. “I’m going to be the king of the pirates.”

“I’m Scott.”

There was a pause. I guess he was used to people reacting to “king of the pirates.”

“When we first saw your ship we thought you might try and fight us,” He said, laughing to himself, “But I’m glad you didn’t!” Well that was. Comforting.

The young ginger woman pushed him aside. “Sorry about him,” she started, as Chopper was beginning to give up. “I’m Nami, this ship’s navigator.” She lead me back down the steps, which is when I realized I’d missed some important landmarks on the main deck. Towards the door inside they’d placed a small table with an umbrella, some chairs placed around it. We approached it, slowly.

“So you’ve already met our cook Sanji.” She gestured to him, as he lit another cigarette, “And Chopper, our doctor.” He had finally given up, and was now sulking in a corner, mumbling about how no one listens. I almost felt sorry for him.

“This is Usopp, our—”

“Sniper.” Usopp said sagely, nodding. He was the man with the overalls who’d pulled me up, though now I could also see his goggles and, I wish I were joking, a slingshot at his waist. Those better be some pellets he used… “I can shoot anything right out of the sky!” He posed dramatically, “I am the king of the sea, a great warrior who has felled man and beast alike—”

Nami smacked him on the back of the head and turned to me. “The guy taking a nap over there is Zoro.” She gestured, and I hadn’t even noticed him earlier.

He had sun-tanned skin and bright green hair, trimmed just shy of a buzzcut, with a bulkier, toned body that was obvious to me even through his clothes. He had a firm jaw and a firmer stance, crossing his arms and legs even as he leaned against the edge of the ship. I also noticed three earrings on one of his ears, though it did take me a moment to see that he had opened one of his eyes. I slowly turned back to Nami, trying to make it look like I wasn’t staring.

“Hey.” He only moved slightly, but I think he was trying to be welcoming.

Usopp started rubbing the now-visible bump in his head.

“Wait.” I knew this guy, and his face. I’d seen it before. Where—

“And Robin is...” Nami gestured vaguely to the rest of the crew.

“As in…” We put them in our issues sometimes, when they updated, but it wasn’t like I memorized them or anything. Plus, the BBT didn’t care as much about bounties as other papers.

“She wasn’t eating with us,” Usopp scratched his chin.

But I almost didn’t recognize this guy without the bandana. “The pirate hunter?”  The crew froze when I said it, so I guess they had forgotten to include it in the introduction. “ _Roronoa_ Zoro?” This guy was bad news, but he’d only become a pirate recently.

“So you’ve heard of me,” He said with a smirk.

“Most of the Grand Line has by now,” Usopp didn’t seem happy when he said it, exactly, “Since you have that 60 _million_ beri bounty.”

“That’s… pretty high.”

“Yeah, it is,” Nami said, leaning against the deck’s table, “We mostly try to avoid thinking about it.” She shrugged, “Or at least, I do. Having a bounty just makes things more dangerous for us.”

“That makes sense, yeah,” I said, inching towards one of the chairs set up around the table.

“Hey Sanji, didn’t you make some drinks earlier?” Usopp asked, stretching and turning one of the chairs around. He sat with his arms resting on the back rest, facing us. I took the opportunity to sit down, as did Nami.

“If you want some, go get it yourself.” He snapped.

“Oh Sanji, could you get me a glass of tea~” Nami leaned forward, almost thrusting out her chest. Sanji practically floated up to the kitchen. Luffy followed him, saying something incoherent about meat. Then she turned back to me, serious again. “So I suppose we can’t put it off anymore. Why were you out here in the middle of the Grand Line?”

“Um.” I wish I’d rehearsed this in my head. Nami, Usopp, and Chopper stared at me expectantly. I almost wanted to divert attention to Sanji and Luffy, who I could hear fighting in the distance. “It’s. Complicated…”

Nami leaned back, making an annoyed huff.

I sighed. “I guess the easiest explanation is that…” What was the easiest explanation? The version of events that was most believable? “I’m an intern for the BBT.” I guess it was best to start with the truth. “I mean, the Blueberry Times.”

“The Blueberry Times?” Usopp leaned back himself, hand to his chin. “You mean the world-famous newspaper?”

“Is it really that famous?” Chopper looked at Usopp with sparkles in his eyes.

“It _is_ a big deal,” Nami answered instead, “It’s known for being one of the few papers of its size that caters to the whole Grand Line, not just its island. In fact, it’s the paper I got from the News Coo this morning.” She tapped on the paper which was still on the table.

“Wow!” He did sound excited, “So is it really accurate?”

“Mostly,” She shrugged, “It’s hard to say how accurate anything really is, but they do interview the Marines pretty frequently.” Interesting wording, but I wasn’t sure how to take it yet.

“We do our best,” I admitted, fidgeting with my fingers. “But we’re only human.” I leaned back, trying to look less stiff. “The BBT is located on Cyanoc Island, also known for its blueberries. Hence the name of the pape.”

“And this relates to your situation…?”

“It… doesn’t.” I laughed nervously. “About two weeks ago, we were visited by a pirate ship. Which normally isn’t unusual!” I flew up my hands in defense. Not that they actually seemed to mind, but… “Most pirates don’t cause trouble out of respect for News Coo, since we employ a lot of them on the island. Normally pirates and marines don’t try to hurt us, since our neutrality is an asset to them.” I crossed my arms, still formulating my words carefully, and hoping they didn’t read too much into my wording. “But…”

“But?” Nami stopped me, “Those pirates attacked?”

“Yeah,” At least she said it, not me, “The weird thing was they weren’t trying to steal everything.” I looked into the distance, “They were looking for something specific.”

“Like what?” Nami seemed interested now, or at least more than usual. “Some kind of treasure?”

“Probably.” At least this was something I _really_ didn’t know. “At the very least, they wanted something from Barney Farms. We didn’t exactly have time to interrogate them.” I rubbed my temple, already getting upset about what happened. “So we prepared an evacuation ship, taking out as many civilians as possible on one of the BBT’s ships.”

“So why aren’t you on that now?” Usopp asked.

“Well, the pirates didn’t seem to like us evacuating.” I couldn’t attempt eye contact for this, so I looked into my lap. “I guess they thought we’d taken some of the treasure or something. But they came onto our ship.”

I looked up, and Nami seemed to be deep in thought.

“I tried to stand up to them, tell them we hadn’t taken anything but our clothes and some food. Well, their captain laughed at me, said I was a brave fool. So he decided to give the rest of the ship a choice. Either they sacrifice me…”

“… or they all die.” Nami finished, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“Their answer was to let me die at sea, because no one wanted to kill me themself. I don’t blame them, but…” I shook my head. Not a happy thought, that one. “I guess the captain meant it as a cruel joke, but he threw that eternal pose at me as I was pushed off from the ship.”

“So you knew you were drifting further from home,” Nami was deep in thought.

“He sounds like a wackjob!” Usoppp said.

“Well, we can get you to Cyanoc, at least.” Nami nodded, as if it was already decided. “It’s in the direction our Log Pose is pointed, anyway.”

“You mean you already checked?” Usopp seemed surprised, but only put his hand to his chin.

“Why wouldn’t I?” Nami shrugged.

As if on cue, Sanji came down the stairs, carrying a tray with a drink on it. I shouldn’t have been surprised that he even included a little umbrella, and yet the decoration seemed out of place for my situation.

“I got your drink, Nami my dear.” He said, trying his best to sound flirtatious and seductive. His eyes were practically heart-shaped.

“Thanks,” Nami said with a fake, ‘I’m totally using you’ smile.

Despite the peaceful atmosphere, I got the distinct feeling being on this ship was going to be an experience. But at least I was going home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked chapter 1! It's not the most exciting, but I tried to emulate similar opening arc sections - like with Keimi at the start of the Shabody Archipegalo arc or Z at the start of Film Z - as well as establish character relationships with Scott for future development. Chapter 2 will be more of the latter before Chapter 3 gets into the actual plot of the arc. Sorry!)
> 
> I also need to specify that Scott, while a self-insert, is easier to understand as a version of me from within the universe rather than me being transported into the universe. I'll speak more about this later but just know any inconsistencies between me and Scott are intentional for one reason or another.


	2. Lost in Thought

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scott's trying to be at ease with his saviors, but there's only so much one can do to be comfortable around pirates. The only thing for it is to hope a good shower and clean clothes will clear his head. But on the Going Merry, who knows how long that will take...

Honestly, I was actually kind of surprised the Going Merry had a shower. Not that I didn’t know ships had showers — I spent a considerable time on the passenger ship that took me from Mist to Cyanoc. But that ship was much bigger, and dedicated to getting people across the Grand Line. I never would have expected a ship this size to be built around living on, but I wasn’t going to complain.

Given my clothing situation, and my inability to wear anyone else’s clothes, Nami offered to clean them while I was in the shower. Which I was about to take her up on until she asked me for 100 beri per clothing item. Instead, I would be doing them in the bathroom, after I’d showered. 

At least I’d be clean.

I stood under the showerhead for what felt like forever. I was still sore, but honestly this felt nice. I could just fall asleep right here. I looked down at myself, and frowned. Skin that was normally pretty pale was covered in red sunburns and healing bruises. Which looked even less appealing on my fat body, something I was already sensitive about. Though maybe I was smaller after a week without food. I honestly couldn’t tell. I shook out my hair as water ran through it. It really needed it, my fluffy curls quickly turning into long, dark brown strands that covered my eyes. I ran a hand over my face, feeling the scruff under my fingers.

I’d have to see if I could borrow a razor from one of the guys.

I cleaned myself and grabbed the towel by the shower, careful to not drip too much. Usopp had been very clear about shower procedure: you squeegee off the shower when you were done so the wood wouldn’t warp. I didn’t want to squeegee any more than I had to. But I also had to do my laundry in here, so that would have to happen in the shower area as well.

It was also annoying that it was a wash basin instead of a washing machine, but given the location it was to be expected. They weren’t exactly my nicest clothes, but they had been comfortable-ish. A black graphic t-shirt, simply saying “NO”; a blue, sleeveless hoodie… vest I guess; and jeans. At least I wasn’t going to miss my shoes. The floors were wooden, but they were finished, polished and smooth. Someone clearly put a lot of thought into it.

The annoying part was waiting for the clothes to dry. I eyed the towels across the room, and sighed. I didn’t want to hog the bathroom, but I wasn’t going to walk around the ship in nothing but a towel for any length of time. Usopp, at least, had offered to put them on a line for me while I waited for them to dry, but I wasn’t sure how to get his attention.

Speaking of.

I slowly opened the door, cringing only slightly when the cooler air of the storage room hit my skin. 

“Usopp?” 

I waited for a minute.

“I’m ready to dry my clothes now?”

Hm.

“USOPP!”

There was a crash, and soon Usopp was scrambling through the door of the storage room.

“Um. Sorry.” I held out my clothes in a wad through the open door, dripping all over.

“Oh, right.” He sighed in relief. “You scared me for a second there.” He took the clothes from me, letting them drop onto the floor. I looked back the squeegee, weighing my options “I’ll let you know when they’re dry!” He winked and gave me a thumbs up, and I hate to admit it did make me feel better.

I closed the door, slid down to the floor, and took a deep breath. I just needed to relax and let this particular embarrassing moment pass. Besides, I had more important things to worry about. Like—

“It’s not like we wouldn’t believe you,” I heard from behind the door.

I stopped breathing.

“What are you talking about?” I tried to keep my voice even, curling into a tighter ball.

“Your story.” I heard someone slide down to sit on the other side of the door. “I heard the whole thing. Call it a hunch, but I could tell something was off with it.” It was a woman’s voice, but it wasn’t Nami’s. Robin, I think? That’s the name Nami used earlier.

“… like?”

“You said yourself pirates don’t attack newspapers.” She explained. “Unlike the Marines, pirates don’t have a central system of intelligence to keep track of current events amongst themselves. Call it… a peacef treaty.”

“So you noticed.”

“And even if they did have a reason, the marines also rely on newspapers.” She said it neutrally, as if she wasn’t calling my bluff. I curled tighter. “So why did it take them so long to respond?”

I wasn’t sure how to respond. Just tell her the truth and risk getting her and the rest of these pirates involved? But maybe they wouldn’t get involved at all? Which was worse?

While I puzzled over it, the pressure from the other side of the door disappeared.

“Right now, it doesn’t matter what did or didn’t happen. What matters is what you do about it.” I heard her walk away, and it was only then I’d noticed she’d left something on the other side of the door. I carefully opened the door and grabbed it.

Guess I’d be reading  _ Monkey _ until my clothes dried. Whatever  _ that  _ meant.

* * *

 

Turns out,  _ Monkey _ is just an alternate title for  _ Journey to the West _ , though it took me a few chapters to figure it out since they’d translated Sun Wukong to simply Monkey. Though I didn’t really get very far by the time my clothes dried, which was fine. I’d just read it on the way to the island.

“It wasn’t my fault, you shitty cook!”

“Then whose fault was it, marimo?!”

Instead, my return to the main deck was met by Zoro and Sanji, leaning up against each other in some kind of battle for spatial dominance. Clearly this could only end well.

“What’s going—”

“I’ll  _ tell _ you what’s going on!” Sanji turned in a huff. “I bought a case of alcohol when we left the last port, and I was going to use it to make something nice for Nami-swan and my dear Robin.” His eyes had become hearts again, before turning back to anger. I couldn’t handle this right now.

“Why would I want to drink any of the shitty booze you buy?” Zoro said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Besides, I’ve been asleep most of today.”

“You’re the only one who could have taken it!” Sanji insisted. 

“Why him?” Against my better judgement, I was going to try my best to resolve the situation. This, in hindsight, was a  _ bad _ decision. 

“What?”

“Why is Zoro the only one who could have taken it?”

The two men stared at me for a moment, as if helping resolve a conflict was a foreign and possibly terrifying idea. Sanji was the first to get over it.

“Because marimo here is the only one drinks all day long!” He said, his voice rising again, “If Luffy stole anything we’d be out of meat, but I’ve had an eye on the fridge all day!”

“And Chopper? Usopp?”

“Chopper doesn’t drink, he’s too young,” His voice was calmer now. “Besides he’s a doctor, he’s always telling the rest of us to drink less. And Usopp has the decency to ask before he takes anything from the kitchen.” He glared at Zoro about that last point. Yikes.

“Then Nami or... Robin?”

“Don’t you dare disgrace them like that!” He snapped at me, getting in my face much faster than I expected. “Nami-swan and my dear Robin would never steal anything — besides my heart!” 

Please stop.

“When we met Nami she was stealing from  _ another pirate, _ ” Zoro pointed out.

“You can’t hold that against her!” He snapped again, before whiplashing back to heart-eyes mode, “Nami-swan is a vision of loveliness who would never stoop to—”

“Have you considered asking?”

“What?” Sanji stared at me as if I’d grown a second head.

“Have you considered asking anyone else?” I shrugged. I had nothing else to go on, really. “Y’know, like they thought it was for everyone because it was just sitting out.”

“Impossible.”

“So you asked already?”

“Well,” Sanji stopped midway through lighting a cigarette. “Not really, no.”

“Oh, wait,” Zoro said suddenly, hand on his chin, “Are you mad about the vodka?” He shrugged. “I thought you bought more fruity shit.”

Sanji and Zoro started bickering again, and I silently backed away.

* * *

 

Nami was lounging on a pool chair near the front of the deck, a newspaper in her hands and a drink on a table next to her. The Blueberry Times, I realized as I approached. It wasn’t so surprising, I guess. Though I almost hoped the front page would be about the pirate attack; I hadn’t heard the official story yet, though I had a feeling I knew it already.

“Oh, Scott,” She smiled at me, which was a surprise, “Finding your way around the ship okay?”

“Yeah.” I leaned on the prow behind her, looking out at the sea. “So far everyone’s been. Nice? Question mark?”

Nami sighed, “Zoro and Sanji?”

I nodded.

“Ignore them. Those two are always going at it.”

“Do they just not like eachother, or…?”

“Who knows,” She shrugged, turning in her chair to face me. “They care enough to stay on board. And they always help eachother out when we’re in a bind. But they’ve been fighting since they met.”

“Weird.”

“I’ll say,” She turned back, picking the paper up again. She paused, and turned her head to me again. “So you said you were an intern…?”

“Yeah. At the Blueberry Times,” I sheepishly smiled. “Are you a regular reader or…?”

“You could say that,” She shrugged, “I try not to read just one.”

“That makes sense.” I guess I didn’t sound wholly confident about it.

Nami giggled. “If it makes you feel any better, it’s always been in my rotation.”

“My feelings aren’t what I’m worried about,” I make a nervous laugh, “Rocky gets all mopey if people don’t like his stories.”

“Wait. Rocky?” Nami looked at me suspiciously, “As in Rocky  _ Hattari _ ?”

“Yeah, him,” I blink. “He’s my… boss, I guess?”

“You guess?!”

“I mean, he’s kinda like a… mentor? Immediate superior? Guy I work with?” I shrug, “I do what he says, but as far as my paycheck is concerned, my  _ boss _ -boss is Chief.”

“So you work for the world-famous Rocky Hattari?” Nami seemed impressed, for once.

“Yeah,” I shrugged, “He’s very… Hmm. How do I put it.” Rocky was a lot of things, and a narrowing it down to a few words was not going to be easy. I took a seat in the lounge chair next to her, sitting to the side to face her. “He has a strong personality? Question mark?”

Nami raised an eyebrow at me.

“He carries a guitar with him  _ everywhere _ ,” I start. Most people noticed that first, anyway. “And he’s literally always wearing sunglasses. Indoors, outdoors, daytime, nighttime.”

“Oh.” Nami cast an eye to her crew. “So he’s. Eccentric.”

“You could say that.” I shrugged, “But he’s the best, so he gets away with it. Usually. Plus, I think it puts most interviewees at ease, since they aren’t intimidated by him or anything.”

“Or,” Nami said, as we heard Luffy yell in the background. He was currently barreling upwards towards the mast. “He could just be weird.”

“… right.” That must be some jump he’s got. It was almost like he stretched his arms and used them to pull himself up, but that wasn’t possible. Well, unless…

“I also work with Urara,” I say, deciding not to pry into their crew. The less I knew about them, the more plausible deniability I had when we reached land. “Urara Channel? She tends to be more well-known.”

“Wait.” Nami almost jumped out of her seat, “ _ The _ Urara Channel? Photojournalist, model, and fashion icon?!”

“Y-yeah.”

“That’s so cool!” She was in a world of her own, “I may finally be able to meet Urara! The Urara!”

“Yeah, she’s pretty popular with... Everyone really. But she’s not exactly. Normal” Nami looked at me as if I’d grown another head. “Not in a bad way! She’s very… I guess groovy is the word? Even when she’s walking, she’s dancing.”

“How does that even work?”

“I’m still not entirely sure, to be honest.”

She laughed at that, and I felt myself become a little more comfortable on the ship. This place was dangerous, but not entirely unpleasant. Maybe I could even like it here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm glad you guys seem to be enjoying this so far! Even though nothing's happened yet. I figured I could make up for the lack of action by uploading chapter 2 quickly. Next time we finally land on Cyanoc and get to meet it's... unique inhabitants. And you finally get to see why I put Rocky Hattari in the tags.
> 
> Also, now that I've described him, [here's](https://78.media.tumblr.com/7d3b23435608e3ce16037dcbe55e0fe2/tumblr_p31gg92pDv1wvuq3xo1_1280.png) a pic of Scott in his clothes for this arc. The whip won't be explained for a long while - I don't even know if we'll see that specific weapon in this arc...
> 
> Also if you'd like, I have an official tumblr for this fic at [bbtscott.](https://bbtscott.tumblr.com)


	3. Presumed Lost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Going Merry has finally arrived at Cyanoc Island to drop off its latest passenger, but it turns out actually getting onto the island is more work than anyone expected.

“Land Ho!”

“An island! Let me see!”

“Yep. Cyanoc island is dead ahead.”

We’d only been awake for a little while when we saw the spot on the horizon. Despite the light drizzle, the crew was on edge since we woke up. Well, those of us who bothered to wake up. Despite Nami and Robin’s calculations, Zoro didn’t bother. The only reason Luffy was up was, presumably, because Sanji was making an early breakfast today.

“Finally…” My voice was soft as the island came into view. Large red-brick buildings dominated the island, competing with green vegetation for the scenary. “I’m home.”

“I’m glad we were able to help,” Luffy said with a grin, now in my face. I jumped back, and Luffy just giggled with a “shishishishishishi.” He let go of the sail — how did he even stretch down like that? — and landed in front of me.

“So what’s on this island, exactly?” He had taken to sitting up on the railing and crossing his legs, as if he didn’t care if he fell in the ocean.

“Umm.” That was a bit of a loaded question. “The office I work out of, a bunch of blueberry farms, uh…”

“That it?”

“Mostly.” I laughed nervously. “Oh, and a roosting station for News Coo.”

“News what?” I blinked. Surely he wasn’t so — … I guess I should explain.

“Y’know, the birds that deliver the newspaper every morning?” He stared at me, now picking his nose. “Nami pays them a few beri, gets a newspaper, and they fly away?”

“Oh yeah!” He grinned at himself, “The wandering food supply.”

As if on cue, Nami had punched him in the back of the head, leaving a nasty welt. I was almost sorry for him.

“What part of we can’t attack News Coo do you not understand?!”

“Why not? They’re just flying around, right?”

Nami punched him again. “If we attack them, they stop sending us the paper! And then how do we get our news?!”

I sighed, taking their spat as an exit to check on Chopper.

* * *

 

“We’ve hit land.” Although I was pretty sure they could hear Luffy down here.

“Ah!” Chopper ran off behind the mast, though he’d left his doctor’s bag open on the men’s quarter’s table.

“... sorry. Should I have knocked?”

Chopper shook his head. “Sorry, you just surprised me.” He came out from his hiding place, sitting back down in front of a mortar and pestle. “I was just working on some medicine. Sometimes I have to make them from scratch, since everyone uses so much of them.”

“You guys get into a lot of fights?”

“Yeah,” He looked down at his work, but there was a glint of adventure in his eye, “But usually we have a good reason for it.” He nodded to himself, as if this was obvious information. “And we usually win. I just wish they wouldn’t overexert themselves so much.”

There was a quiet, and I decided I couldn’t keep ignoring the elephant in the room. Or rather, the reindeer.

“... so how are you a talking reindeer?”

“Oh.” He blushed, putting down his tools. “Well, you see…” He scratched his chin.

“Did you eat the Deer Deer Fruit?” Isn’t that how Devil Fruit were named? We certainly saw plenty of users coming and going in the news. “Model Reindeer? Or would it be Cow Cow or Bull Bull…?” I decided I needed to get a book on biology.

“Oh no, I was born a reindeer.” He jumped off the couch, walking towards me.“I ate the Human Human Fruit.”

To be completely honest, I didn’t know much about devil fruit. Books on the subject were expensive, and the Marines didn’t answer many questions about them for some reason. But if there were fruits for other animals, it made sense there’d be a human one.

As if in a dream, Chopper’s body seemed to elongate and grow. His hooves grew underneath him, but with a softness and smoothness that belied the impossibility of the change. His horns grew and his back became horizontal, and then it was over. The once-tanuki-shaped reindeer was now, well, a reindeer.

“Walk point!” Chopper grinned widely.

“That’s so cool!” I was practically vibrating. “I’ve never seen Devil Fruit powers up close!”

“Flattery will get you nowhere, you bastard!” Despite his words, he was blushing and giggling, and waving me away as if he was really flattered.

“So you just prefer your… human form?”

“Oh no,” He changed back just as painlessly, almost snapping in midair and landing with the grace of someone practiced in the art of transformation. “This,” he gestured to himself, “is my hybrid form. I call it Brain Point, ‘cause I can use both my human intelligence and reindeer sensitivity.”

“… sensitivity?”

“As in, my senses and stuff.”

“Huh. Got it.” I knew Grand Line pirates had devil fruits, but it was still a surprise meeting one in the flesh. Which meant… “So does that mean Luffy has a devil fruit, too?”

“You mean you haven’t noticed?” Chopper seemed shocked, but he was already walking back to his medical supplies.

“Just a little. But I’m trying not to assume things about you guys. After all, you’re the pirates that saved my life.” I shrugged. “That’s already out of the ordinary.”

Chopper nodded, going back to his medicine bag. “Luffy has the Gum Gum Fruit, which basically makes him rubber.”

“So that’s how he’s been stretching like that.”

“Yeah. He’s also bullet proof and can inflate himself with air.” Now that’d be an intriguing power if Luffy wasn’t like, 12.

“Weird.”

“There’s also Robin’s fruit,” Chopper rubbed his chin, thinking, “The Flower Flower Fruit.”

“It allows me to grow body parts like flowers,” I heard from the stairs, “On any surface.” Robin seemed amused as she entered, smiling to herself with a hand to her face. It was almost condescending. Almost.

I hadn’t seen much of her since our conversation in the show, but she wasn’t hard to find. As the tallest and oldest person on the ship, as well as the quietest, her mature figure stood out against the rowdy crew. She folded her hands over her chest, looking almost like a flower, a strange and specific gesture.

I was suddenly pushed from behind, which panicked me enough to send me into the floor. When I turned around, I saw an arm — Robin’s arm, I realized, given the olive tone and thin fingers — waving at me from the mast I’d been leaning on.

“O-oh. So that’s what you mean.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” She smiled and the arm disappeared, leaving behind a swirl of petals. Was that entirely necessary?

“Right.” I picked myself up off the ground and dusted myself. 

“By the way,” Robin turned on her heel to head further below deck, “It looks like we’ll be hitting the island sooner than we thought. You might want to wait above deck.” And she disappeared down the stairs.

* * *

 

Cyanoc Island, my home for the last few years, was a summer island, something which was more evident as the soft layer of clouds rolled away. But it was relatively tame for a summer island, the breeze cool and comfortable as the sun warmed the ground.

It was also much busier than I expected, with a crowd of people at the dock who hadn’t even noticed our ship yet. Despite the large jolly roger no one had bothered to take down. Somehow.

Nami and I waved at one of the dock hands, who took a minute to process the ship. First he looked at the goat, then me, then the pirate flag, then back at the goat… Finally, he gestured for us to head further down the pier.

“Guess we’re being treated as a special case.” I leaned on the railing, trying to follow the eyes and motions of the people of Cyanoc.

“Special case?” Nami spoke to me only between directions to move the boat towards that pier. The Going Merry was steered by rudder, not a wheel, so Usopp was currently in charge of steering so Nami could speak to the dockhands. Supposedly this was their usual routine, depending on who was needed above deck.

“Dock 13 is where he waved us to.” I pointed at the only open space on that side of the pier, which was empty before but slowly filling with otherwise unoccupied dockhands. “I interviewed the dockyard owner for story, and he told me it’s for… special cases. Refugee ships, injured marines, or…”

“Pirates,” Zoro finished the thought, opening an eye to look at us from his napping spot. I didn’t realize he was awake yet. I hoped he hadn’t seen me staring earlier, then… 

“Either that’s why they want us there, or he realized who I was.” How to word this nicely…? “I mean the last they saw me I had just been thrown overboard by pirates.”

“So they want to make sure you’re safe?” Zoro shifted in his seat, now with both eyes open.

“ _ If _ he recognized me.” I shrugged. “I’m not that remarkable, really.”

“We’ll find out one way or another,” Robin leaned next to me. She seemed pretty relaxed for the situation, and it was then that I realized I’d seen her somewhere before. But I couldn’t place my finger on it...

* * *

 

“Is that…?”

“I think it is.”

“So these pirates…”

“But they brought him back?”

“Are these different pirates?”

The muttering of the crowd wasn’t really  _ rude _ per se, but it also wasn’t conducive to Nami and I trying to discuss payment. Or rather, explain that the Straw Hats should be allowed to stay for just a bit, to restock, because they, y’know, saved my life.

“Wait, Scott?!”

Rocky Hattari, ace journalist, was cutting through the crowd like a butter knife. That is to say, roughly and with many back-and-forth motions, shoving people as he want by. He certainly stood out from the crowd, with a guitar on his back and the spikiest blond hair known to man.

“Rocky?!” I almost fell over the ship.

Now that he’d heard my voice, Rocky grinned and gave up with the crowd. He adjusted his shades and his leather jacket, and jumped onto someone’s head. And then another’s, and on and on to get through the crowd. Like some kind of asshole.

“ _ Rocky! _ ”.

Instead of listening, Rocky made another jump, this time onto a rope. He used his momentum to swing onto another, and another, jumping across until he finally approached us, ending with a flying somersault onto our ship.

“ _ ROCKY!!! _ ”

Rocky stuck the landing with a squat, and then raised to a stand, arms over his head.

“10.” “10.” “10.” Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper somehow had signs ready to score his jump.

“Don’t  _ encourage _ him!” 

Despite my protests, Rocky lifted me into the air in a bear hug, grinning madly and openly sobbing. I’ll admit, I started to tear up, too. I was home again, after all that time on the water, alone and sweaty and hungry and thirsty…

The moment came and went, but Rocky was still holding me. 

“Rocky.”

… 

“You can put me down now.”

“I can’t,” He said between tears, “I thought you were dead!”

“Rocky, I can’t breathe!”

“Is that what these pirates did to you?!”

“ROCKY!” I smacked him on the head, and instead of just letting me go, I crashed into the floor. I took a moment to brush myself off, before continuing. “These pirates saved my life.”

“They did what?!” In his excitement, Rocky had taken out his guitar and was wailing on it. I rubbed my temples.

“So, uh,” Nami had detached herself from the dockhand at this point, “Who’s the weirdo?”

“This,” I gestured to Rocky, who took the cue to put up rock horns with his hands, “Is Rocky Hattari, writer for the Blueberry Times, and my… boss. Kinda.”

“Rockin’!” He started shredding his guitar again.

“I give up…” I turned, now gesturing to Nami, “This is Nami, the navigator for the Straw Hat Pirates.”

“Nice to meet you…?”

Rocky shrugged it off, adjusting his sunglasses as if he was the coolest person ever, and grabbed the piece of paper Nami had in her hands. Then he signed it. As if that was a thing normal people did.

“… Rocky, please stop.”

Nami laughed nervously, taking back the paper.

As if on cue for weirdness, Luffy must have decided Rocky was interesting. Or that was why I thought he had decided to stretch his head down from the mast, he and Rocky now eye-to-eye.

“Whoa!” Rocky immediately went for his guitar again.

“Rocky! No!

But it was too late. While I had to commend Rocky’s form, Luffy was not expecting the guitar that came at his head or how his head was now headed back to his body.

“ _ Rocky these people saved me. _ ”

Rocky laughed at me nervously as Luffy came back down on him, hard. The scrambled with each other on the ground for a minute before, as if of one mind, Nami and I approached them.

SMACK!

* * *

 

“… and so I don’t know how to make it up to you, but—”

“The BBT’ll pay you for—”

“You are?!”

“Like you can?”

“How much money?” Nami’s eyes lit up as she interrupted Rocky and I. Rocky had agreed to show them around town, but I was the one who brought up a reward on the way down. The town itself was pretty sleepy when we’d arrived, but was lively as people made their way away from the dock.

But despite the comfort of familiarity, being home made me nervous, especially after what happened when I left. And more immediately, it seemed like people were really lively for having just survived a pirate attack.

“We’ll talk to Chief.”

“We should talk to my family instead,” I tried. I hated the idea of owing money to Chief. He wouldn’t even make me owe him the money, but it was the principle of the thing. “I mean, I’m the one who—”

“You’re barely paid as it is,” Rockiy waved me off, “Anyway,” He gestured up the hill from where we were, to the top of the brick streets of the island. “Up there is where we work: the BBT main office.” He playing a chord on an air guitar, “You could call it my stage.”

“Wait, that building made of glass?” Zoro didn’t contain the judgement in his voice.

“Chief likes to say it’s to make the truth accessible to the people,” I explained, moving the group towards it. These pirates were nice, but being around them was dangerous and they probably wanted to leave as soon as possible.

“And how does glass do that?” Luffy was picking his nose, only half interested.

“Because you can see through it,” I shrugged, “And so can anyone else on the island.”

“Ah.” Despite the affirmative noise, I was pretty sure Luffy didn’t get it. 

“Yeah, we can rock on over to the BBT,” Rocky air guitared again, “And then roll on to Barney Farms.”

“Barney Farms?” Chopper asked, “Is that place famous?”

“Ah!” Rocky jumped onto a nearby brick wall, pointing at Chopper, “A talking reindeer!” Then he took out his guitar, doing a power solo or something. “That’s so sick!”

“I’m not sick!” Chopper said indignantly, “I’m a doctor!”

“… that’s not quite what he meant, but okay.” I waved the group up the hill.

“So, what is Barney Farms?” Usopp picked the conversation back up when Rocky had jumped back off the wall.

“It’s only the best blueberry farm in the whole world!” Rocky air guitared again.

“You know how I said Cyanoc is famous for its blueberry farms?” I got a few nods in response, “Well, Barney Farms bought all of them a few years ago and they’re the main label. But they still like to think of it as a family business.”

“So they have food?!” Luffy was practically drooling as he jumped to the front of the group.

“Their tour usually come with some form of free sample at the end.” I shrugged.

“They rock, dudes!”

“Free food…” Luffy was drooling onto his shirt.

“We could always use fresh fruit on the ship,” Sanji thought out loud, though the way he scratched his chin told me he was already thinking about blueberry dishes. I wondered if he could make blueberry muffins…

“I wanna see the farms, too!” Chopper was unusually enthusiastic.

“Y’know, we could split up,” I suggested, turning around again, “If not all of you want to go get the reward money.” The Straw Hats stared at me blankly. I shook my head to get rid of the awkward pause. “I can lead you guys to the Chief for that reward, and Rocky can take you to the farms for that tour.”

“All right!” Luffy had already started running off.

“That’s the wrong way!” Rocky had to chase after himhim.

“Wait for me!” Usopp scrambling along, as well, picking up Chopper to take with him. Sanji shrugged, waving at us as he walked after them. I considered mentioning we were going to see Urara inside, but...

“What am I going to do with them…?” Nami sighed.

Robin chuckled to herself. “Shall we?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now that we've officially met Rocky Hattari, I can reveal that he's not actually an OC and is, in fact, a [pre-existing character](http://onepiece.wikia.com/wiki/Rocky_Hattari). (Well, "reveal" is a bit strong when you can find him with a quick google...) He's actually from the Gamecube game [Treasure Battle](http://onepiece.wikia.com/wiki/Treasure_Battle!) as an original character created for the game. Coincidentally, this is also where I stole the Blueberry Times from, as it is the newspaper he writes for in that game, as well. While his mannerisms will be similar to what I've seen of the game, footage of the game is not exactly common so he's mostly a different interpretation of the character.
> 
> It'll be a while before we meet Urara, the other BBT employee mentioned last chapter, but she's actually an original character. Well, [kinda](http://spacechannel5.wikia.com/wiki/Ulala).


	4. Lost Perspective

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Nami, Zoro, and Robin speak with the BBT's enigmatic Chief, Luffy and the others have been left mostly-unsupervised on the Barney Farms tour. These being the Straw Hats, neither of these interactions can end well.

“Scott, my boy!!!”

Despite the fact my chest was being crushed into dust, the concern in Chief’s voice made me feel better. Not enough to compensate for the permanent damage to my spine, but better.

Chief’s office was covered in the color blue, but mostly filled with baseball memorabilia from the Red Line. While I always appreciated the change of pace, I wondered if “Sharks” was going to rub off on my clothes with the way Chief was squeezing me. All I could do in this position was stare at the pennant he placed behind his desk, just above a carefully-placed, signed baseball.

“Chief,” I strained, “I can’t breathe.”

He released me, dropping me to the ground, and he faced our guests.

“I can’t thank you enough for saving Scott here!” He boomed, patting me on the back hard enough for me to stumble.

Chief was not a small man. He easily had a foot on my 5’8”, and he was even wider that that, if that were possible. I was never surprised he could pick me up with no problem — he had the build of a powerlifter, and even putting me down I was still brushing against him. This, combined with his strong jaw and carefully-trimmed goatee, gave him an air of power and maturity that I couldn’t help but admire.

And be attracted to, but that’s a different matter altogether.

“It was nothing, really,” Nam walked around to one of the seats in the office. Chief took the cue to walk around his desk, taking his own seat. “We couldn’t just leave him out there in that lifeboat.”

Robin took the other seat, a sly smile on her face, as if she knew something no one else in the room did. Which she probably did, all things considered. “That said, just being in town puts us at risk,” she leaned forward, “Especially in a town still rebuilding from a pirate attack.”

“So we won’t be staying long,” Zoro finished the thought, still leaning against the back wall as when we entered.

“Of course,” Chief nodded, “You have your… reasons.” I hated this double talk, but I had to admit Chief was the king of plausible deniability. “And I fully intend to reward you for saving Scott’s life.” He leaned back, thinking. “If you were looking for one, that is.”

“It wasn’t why we took him in, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Robin said smoothly. “But he and Rocky insisted.”

“And if you’re offering,” Nami’s eyes were practically money signs.

“Of course, of course,” He nodded. “But I would also like to extend an invitation to your crew to the party tonight.”

“Party?” I felt my whole body tighten up. So soon after the attack…?

“To recognize Captain Nakaji’s success against the pirates.” Chief’s voice was even, but I tightened my fists. The world seemed to evaporate from under me. I leaned back, trying to seem more casual.

“Of course.”

“We don’t have time for—” Zoro started, but Robin cut him off.

“What kind of party?”

“Black tie, champagne — I understand if it isn’t your cup of tea,” Chief nodded, “But we would love to recognize Scott’s saviours as guests of honor at the party.”

“That does sound fun.” Robin was noncommittal, but her interest was piqued.

“But there will be _marines_ there.” Nami sat back in a huff. “And we’re not exactly… friends of the marines.” Then she leaned forward, chin in her hands. “But we don’t get to go to parties very often…”

“Unless there’s booze, it’s a waste of time.” Zoro nodded his head as if this was sage advice.

“You’ll be honored guests of Mayor Marron,” Chief’s hand inched towards the transponder snail at his desk, “Even if you did happen to be pirates. Marron owes me a few favors, and Nakaji owes him some.”

“That’s a lot, Chief…” I shifted, uncomfortable with a number of things. This was, after all, just for saving my life. A silence fell over the room as Nami considered the options. Robin turned to me and shrugged, as if it were out of her hands, and Zoro… Well, he continued to be an aloof wall-hugger.

I wasn’t really sure what to make of Chief’s offer; he maintained a professional distance from all of us, but he was also very protective of his employees. Or so I’d heard from the other reporters. Still, a minor form of immunity, even for a night, was huge, even including the money.

Suddenly, Nami stood up, her eyes on fire. “It’s decided! We’re going to the ball!”

* * *

 

Dixie Barney was already having a tough day in the fields — making repairs, checking on damaged plants, rescheduling delayed sales from the attack — so for anyone else, she would have denied the tour. Maybe even without the goodie basket. (Well. It could happen.)

But Rocky Hattari was the “nicest dang lawyer anyone ever did meet,” and when he explained what these nice pirates had done she would have stopped production for the day for them. (Well. Not that but, still.) So she handed the rescheduling off to her grandpappy, Berkely, while she went off to greet her guests.

Now Dixie may be a short, chubby girl, but she carries with her the impression of a woman several times her size. Something about her bouncy personality and the ruthless look in her eyes gives her an air of power. But today she looked less ruthless and more rustic with her denim overalls, work boots, and dark blue t-shirt. (Were this an official tour, she told herself, she would have gone with the yellow flannel to contrast her dark skin. It got more attention from Rocky.) Instead, she bounced jovially in front of the tour group.

“Howdy y’all!” She announced, “I _just_ heard about what you wonderful folks did and frankly I’d be _honored_ to give you a tour of this farm!”

Before she could start, Sanji had placed himself firmly on the ground in front of her, kissing her hand with the grace of a prince. “We’re honored to have such a beautiful young woman to guide us.” He flashed her a smile, but his eyes were already all hearts.

“Why, I’ll be—!” Dixie blushed, hand on her face.

Luffy stared at her blankly. “So when do we get the free food?”

“I wanna see a blueberry!” Chopper practically sang, almost floating in midair.

“Oh yes, of course,” She said, taking her hand back and composing herself, “The goodie baskets will be ready as soon as we finish the tour.”

“Baskets!” Luffy and Chopper sing-songed in unison, “Baskets! Baskets! Baskets!”

“Guys, really?” Usopp sighed, dejected.

* * *

 

“And this here is the main field,” Dixie said, turning to face the group. “As you can see, the blueberries here on Cyanoc don’t grow like they do anywhere else.”

True to her word, the Blueberry bushes towered over the tour group tall as trees, the berries themselves easily the size of apples — and some even bigger. The plants weren’t visible from the front gate, instead surrounded by brick walls with tall arches leading inside, with glass panels creating a ceiling of sorts. However, the attack seemed to have done a number on the walls, with broken bits of wall scattered everywhere and wood from the ceiling in spots.

“Is this some kind of greenhouse?” Usopp asked as Luffy reached out to grab a blueberry. Rocky smacked him over the head with his guitar, a mis-matched chord echoing through the orchard. Chopper tried next, sneaking under Rocky to grab one, but he smacked him, too.

“Not quite, but I’m glad you noticed,” She smiled, “This being a summer island, we don’t really need to adapt the climate for them to grow. But these plants are my livelihood, you see, and it’s much harder for a thief to get in when there’s a roof than when there isn’t.”

“But why don’t they just break the glass…?” Usopp said, scratching his chin.

Dixie put her hands together, as if this was some great idea. “Why don’t we demonstrate! Normally I save this for later in the tour, but I do love a curious audience.” She pulled a small transponder snail from her chest pocket. “Duke, are you still up there making repairs?”

“Yeah, sis. Why?” The voice coming through the snail was very deep, but young, with an accent matching Dixie’s.

“I have a tour group that needs to see the glass break.”

“A tour group? Now?!”

“I’ll tell ya about it later.” She started to tap her foot. “Just do whatcha always do.”

“Sure thing, sis.” It was then that Usopp noticed the very muscular young man on the far side of the roof, fixing the wood beams that held the panels together. He carefully slid along closer to them, then took a sledgehammer from his back pocket. With a mighty heave, he brought it down on the glass.

The boom reverberated throughout the fields, taking several minutes to resolve itself. Chopper and Usopp held their ears the whole time, especially because Rocky had decided to play along with it. At least until Sanji kicked him.

“This here glass is special. We managed to engineer it such that it can take and absorb any blunt force shock it receives. The wood’ll give out long before the glass does. As you can see by the splinters. Sorry ‘bout that, by the way.” Despite the apology, she moved along. Sanji practically floated behind her.

The group approached a large object towards the other end of the farm. Usopp slid his goggles down, adjusting the scopes to focus on it.

“A giant zebra?!” He screamed, falling on his behind. He did _not_ sign up for this today.

“Oh, so you saw Concord already.” Dixie giggled. “You are a _mighty_ observant audience, you know. But I really did hope to surprise you—”

“How dare you make a lady upset!” Sanji kicked usopp, sending him into the ground.

“It’s alright, really!”

“Of course it is now, my angel.” Sanji was once again entranced by Dixie. Rocky started rubbing his temples, winding up his guitar arm again. Choppe held him back, though in Brain Point it was ineffective.

“What’s a zebra?” Luffy asked, cleaning out his ear.

“Glad you asked!” Dixie said, once again as cheerful as ever. She clapped her hands — one short clap, a pause, and then three quick ones, followed by a loud final clap — and the mass on the other side of the farm came barreling towards them. Which is when Luffy realized it was much bigger than they originally thought.

“Sweet!” Luffy said, already stretching towards it.

“I DON’T WANT TO BE EATEN TODAY!” Usopp scrambled away, tears in his eyes, though the rest of his yelling was less than coherent. “Me either!” Chopper had transformed into Walk Point, galloping after Usopp but, miraculously, not whizzing past him.

“Wait!” Dixie tried, “She’s not going to—”

Luffy wrapped his arms around the zebra and launched himself at her. Concord noticed this and, panicking, immediately started to backpedal. But Luffy’s momentum was too fast, and —

* * *

 

CRASH!

“I’m so sorry, are you okay?”

Nami looked up from her new position on the ground to see she’d been run into by a familiar woman, tall with dark skin and pastel pink hair. And something about her attire was familiar, odd given it was bell bottom jeans, a t-shirt (tied off to bare her midriff), and platform boots.

“I’m fine,” She said, taking her hand to help stand. “I should have been looking where I was going.”

“You really should have,” Zoro crossed his arms.

“You be quiet!”

“I’m Urara.” She made a motion that, to Nami, seemed to be going for a handshake. Then she spun quickly, ending in a stylish pose, pointing a finger-gun at Nami and a peace sign by her face. She winked. “The best photojournalist on the Grand Line.” She switched her pose. “And the best dancer.” She winked again. “If you wanted to know.”

“I didn’t.” Zoro’s face was deadpan, a reaction Urara didn’t get often.

“ _The_ Urara?! Urara _Channel?!_ ” Nami practically leapt at Urara, a notebook in her hands. “I’m a huge fan!” She thrust the notebook at Urara. “I would love to have your autograph!” She then turned away, bashfully. “I actually bought this skirt because I’d heard you recommended the brand.”

Urara scrawled her name in the notebook and handed it back. “I get that a lot, though I’m not fully fabbed up today.” She posed again, showing off the back of her jeans, where she had “FAB” written on her back pockets. “Not that I don’t always look fab.”

“I’ve seen your work in the Times.” Robin folded her arms, hand to her chin. “I was particularly impressed by your coverage of the Loguetown storm.”

Zoro shifted in his place slightly, and Nami quickly took the book back. Robin smiled to herself.

“I’d love to stay and chat,” Urara started to walk past them, “But I have to speak with the Chief.” She posed right before reaching the door. “I do love meeting fans though. Ciao~” And she waltzed right on by.

Nami stared after for a moment, trying to piece something together in her head. Something was odd about her showing up just as Scott came back and just as the pirates showed up, and there was no way a photojournalist wouldn’t be in the know. There had been other reporters when they landed.

“Well. She was charming.” Robin lead the way down the hall, back to the lobby.

“Was she?” Zoro raised an eyebrow.

Nami clutched her notebook tightly, looking into the middle distance. “I can’t believe I have _the_ Urara Channel’s autograph!”

“Why do you care so much about it?” Zoro seemed only half interested in her answer.

“Because she’s famous, that’s why!”

“You never seemed to care much about celebrities before now.”

“Yeah but now I have an autograph from one.” She crossed her arms indignantly. “It’s probably worth a fortune!”

Zoro smacked his forehead. “Of course that’s why you want it.”

* * *

 

“I can’t believe you did that to poor, innocent little Concord!” Dixie was flipping wildly between comforting the giant crying zebra and berating Luffy. “I’m so sorry baby, it’s going to be all right, we’ll get you all fixed up. _And as for you_ —”

Sanji kicked Luffy in the head again, knocking him into a bowing position on the ground,but he seemed to be only slightly apologetic. “I just wanted to get a closer look…”

Sanji forced his head further into the ground. “Apologize to her.”

“S-Sorry…”

Satisfied, Sanji lifted his leg and took a drag from his cigarette. Dixie eyed it disapprovingly, but there was only so much she could deal with at a time.

“Concord, are you really hurt, girl?” She pet the large animal, but Concord just shook her head. “That’s my Conky! Gonna take more than one rubber man to hurt your pride.” Concord quickly stood up triumphantly, as if to say ‘I’m perfectly fine now!’

“So I’m sorry if this is rude, but…” Usopp slowly inched out of his hiding spot. “Why do you have a giant zebra?”

“And what even _is_ a zebra?” Chopper had turned into Brain Point at some point and was now clinging to Usopp’s head protectively.

“Oh yes, I was just about to get to that.” She turned to face the group, her cheerful tour guide disposition back on. “If you’ll noticed the ground to your left and right, you’ll see that… unfortunate crash left Concord’s baskets on the ground.”

The baskets had flown away from the site of the crash, not far but enough that they had almost blended into the trunks of the bushes. Concord saw this, panicked, and hurriedly tried to throw the basket-saddle back over her head.

“Concord here is our primary method of hauling and harvesting blueberries.” She gestured to her, now fully-saddled, who slammed the side of her backside against the bush. The berries started falling, and Concord repositioned herself to catch the most of them in the basket. “Any she misses are usually picked up by the rest of our harvest crew, though lately it’s just been me and Duke.”

“Lately?” Usopp had now fully come out of his hiding spot, and was busy letting Chopper down from his perch.

“Ah, don’t pay that no mind.” She turned on her heel. “Let’s get on with the tour, shall we?” She lead the group towards the main building of the farm, but Chopper and Usopp shot a look back at the man on the roof, noting now he was one of only a handful of workers for such a large farm.

* * *

 

“And here’s the trophy room.” Dixie smiled and gestured broadly to the small room they were in. “We keep any and every award we’ve ever earned in this here room. Grandpappy always thought it’d look conceited. But we work hard for this farm, and dagnabbit if I’m not going to recognize that!” She turned towards an empty display case, as if she was going to comment on it, but stopped herself.

“That’s the end of the tour.” Dixie was clearly in tour autopilot now. “Feel free to stick around and ask questions, try some free samples, and—” Before she finished the sentence, Luffy and Chopper went racing out the door.

“I have a question!” Sanji floated towards her. “Is there anything I can do to win your heart?” Usopp smacked him over the head with a hammer, reducing him to a pile on the floor.

“Now for a real question.” Rocky placed a leg up on a crate in the room, leaning towards Dixie. “What used to be on that display case?” He pointed a pencil towards the empty one, prominently located at the end of the room.

“I was wondering that, too.” Usopp scratched his chin, getting a closer look at the pedestal.

“That’s…” She paused. “A long story, really. And not something we have time for today. Honest.” She shook her head, then returned to her tour guide face. “But why don’t we catch up with your hungry friends? They strike me as liable to put a dent in my pantry.”

Usopp and Sanji both turned towards the kitchen, to see a muffin tray, a chef, and what seemed to be a cat all fly out of the kitchen.

“Behave yourselves!” They ran towards the kitchen, forcing Rocky to leave the issue be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter down! Urara and Chief have been officially introduced, but that's not all of the characters up my sleeve. They were, however, the last "good" characters I had left to introduce. And we'll be seeing more of Urara in the near future.
> 
> You may notice this chapter starts a major departure from the first-person perspective I've established up until now. I hope it wasn't too jarring. It's unfortunately the nature of the beast with One Piece stories where everyone is split up near-constantly. Things should be more straightforward next chapter, though.
> 
> Also just wanted to remind you that if you're enjoying this fic, please let me know in the comments! Even just "It's really good so far!" or "I want to know more about X!" are really nice and helpful to me as a writer. And if you have any questions about Scott or his (future) relationships with the Straw Hats, feel free to throw them at [the tumblr!](https://bbtscott.tumblr.com)


	5. Lost in the Shuffle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After meeting with Chief and collecting the rest of the crew, the Straw Hats have to get ready for that cocktail party. Which is easier said than done, all things considered.

After speaking with Chief and Urara, I was tasked with showing the Straw Hats around. They were, technically speaking,  _ my _ guests. And they were more comfortable with me than anyone else in town simply because we’d met sooner.

Thankfully, it didn’t take long to track them down. They were arguing in the lobby. Or rather, Zoro and Nami were arguing in the lobby. Robin seemed more amused than anything.

“Hey.”

Nami turned at me, crossing her arms, but smiling now. “Scott! We were just talking about you.” A pause. “Well, kinda.”

“Really?” I stopped in front of them, placed awkwardly close to the walkthrough area of the lobby. There really wasn’t a great place to stand around here, but hopefully we would get moving soon. “Why?”

“We were talking about the party,” 

“I don’t see why we need to dress all fancy for a party.” Zoro crossed his arms. “It’s just a waste of time.”

“Parties can be fun.” Robin leaned on one of the lounge’s couches, and I noticed her body language was more open than her crewmates. “But more importantly, they’re excellent ways of gaining information.”

Zoro’s eyes narrowed in thought, but he didn’t move.

Nami looked at me. “Regardless of the reason, I have  _ nothing _ to wear.”

“What about all the stuff you bought in Loguetown?”

“And Sanji’s the only one of the guys with a tux.” Nami pushed right past Zoro to stand in front of me. Zoro huffed, rubbing this side of his head with one hand.

“And I forgot to pack evening wear.” Despite what she was saying, Robin seemed to be amused, smiling softly at Zoro. Nami took my hands in a pleading motion, smiling sweetly. I had a sudden flashback to her trying to extort me on the ship...

“You’re in luck, actually.” I took my hands from Nami, but smiled back. “Chief wants me to help you guys while you’re in town waiting for your reward payment. Though I’m not sure I know much about fashion.” As soon as the words left my mouth, I regretted everything.

On cue as always, Urara jumped from a higher level down in front of us, causing Nami to dive behind the couch.

“Did someone say… fashion?” Urara struck a pose like something out of Charlie’s Angels. I rubbed my temples.

“Urara!?” Nami jumped out of her hiding spot, “Twice in one day?! I must be dreaming!”

“Weren’t you just talking to Chief about that story…?” My posture tightened despite myself. We didn’t know when it was gonna finish, especially since it was started before the attack. Or, was the reason for the attack…

“I have plenty of time,” Urara pulled out one of her sidearms and spinning it nonchalantly. “And fashion waits for no one.” She placed it back in cooly, and seemed displeased by the lukewarm reaction to her display.

“Right.” I shook my head. “Anyway, we should probably get the others from Barney Farms before we go shopping.”

“We should probably get them before they wreck the place…” Nami started rubbing her temples. I wondered how literal that concern was, but Urara was already heading out the door. I jogged after her.

* * *

 

“Well…” I shrugged my shoulders, “They didn’t burn the place down.”

When we got the Barney Farms, Luffy and Chopper were out front, apparently resting off what I can only imagine was a Blueberry Bonanza, judging by how big they’d bloated. I guess Luffy’s stomach was as rubber as he was, though that did explain a lot about how he was. The way he was.

“He did attack a giant zebra, though,” Sanji carried a large basket with one hand over his shoulder, using the other to take the cigarette out of his mouth and shake ash off the end. “Thankfully, no one got hurt.”

“At least, not too badly,” Usopp followed behind him, meeting with our little group outside the front gate of Blueberry Farms. It was almost noon, the sun high enough in the sky that we practically had no shadows at all. It was almost a little  _ too _ bright, truth be told. 

“And who is  _ this _ enchanting creature?” Sanji dropped the basket the second he saw Urara, forcing Usopp to scramble to catch it. Sanji took her hand, kissing it lightly. She giggled, but seemed to be somewhere between amused and annoyed.

“Urara Chanel,” She took her hand back quickly, “Ace photographer for the Blueberry Times.” She took out her camera and snapped a photo, as if to prove the point.

“Well I’m Sanji,” He said once he recovered from the flash, scrambling to stand up and bow. “The greatest cook in the Grand Line.” He wiggled an eyebrow as if this was a major accomplishment. I suppose it was, but really anyone could say that. Not that I couldn’t vouch for him… 

“But now that I’ve met you I know we’re meant to be,” He got down on a knee again, grabbing her hand again. “Truly I cannot imagine life without you now that we’ve-”

Usopp smacked him over the head, shutting him up briefly. “How’d the reward money thing go?”

“Well…” I started, looking towards Nami. She nodded.

“The Editor-in-Chief is perfectly willing to give us a reward in exchange for helping Scott. But he wants to present it to us at…” She paused, looking over at me and Urara. “... a fancy cocktail party.”

“They’re gonna throw us a party!” Usopp jumped almost a foot into the air.

“A party!” Luffy and Chopper jumped up in unison, apparently completely recovered from their blueberry feast. Talk about a fast metabolism… The three started marching excited in a circle, chanting “We’re going to a party!”

“There’s a catch.” I tried to get in between their sing-songy chant. Usopp stopped, and Luffy and Chopper ran into him before they realized I’d said anything. “The party was actually already being planned, to commemorate the man who drove the pirates away from Cyanoc.”

“The  _ marine _ , that is,” Zoro nodded to himself.

“So we’re not going,” Usopp said matter-of-factly, already marching towards the ship. Zoro grabbed his shoulder before he got too far away.

“Actually,” Nami paced around to face Usopp, “The chief offered us a night of immunity so we could receive a formal reward from the BBT.” She shrugged. “He says Nakaji - the marine - isn’t so incorruptible that the mayor can’t pull some favors.”

“Huh. It’s about time we got to go to a party,” Sanji smirked to himself.

“I agree,” Robin smiled more genuinely. “Which is why we came to collect you. We’re going to get everyone fitted for formal wear.”

It was at this point that Rocky walked out of the main building and towards us.

“Dudes!” He ran into a knee-slide, riffing on his guitar as he came to a stop at our feet. I fought the urge to kick him in the face. Urara giggled.

“We’re getting ready to do some shopping,” She explained to Rocky, “The Straw Hats are going to be our guests for the party.” She offered him a hand, helping him to his feet.

“Are they now?”

“Chief wanted to give us our reward there,” Nami shrugged, “Something about recognizing us for helping Scott.”

“I see.” He scratched his chin, thinking. “And you’re helping them pick out clothes, then?”

“You know me,” Urara winked at him, “I’m the ace of the fashion world.” She spun around, gesturing to Nami and Robin. “I have just the boutique in mind for their gowns, and I’m pretty sure I can pull some strings at Nash’s for their tuxes.” She turned to look at me. “I suppose I need to get Scot fitted for one, too…”

“Yeah,” I shrugged. I hadn’t actually thought about it, but even if the Straw Hats had left I’d be going to this party. Whether I wanted to or not… “I think my tux is actually in my room, but I might have lost some weight from starving in the middle of ocean for a week.”

“Oh yeah,  _ that  _ tux…” Urara shook her head. “We’ll take you to Gar & Nash.”

“Actually, why don’t you take them on ahead?” Rocky grabbed me from the side, locking me in place. “I need to speak to Scott for a minute.”

Urara looked like she was about to protest, but Rocky shook his head, lifting his sunglasses to glance at the pirates. She nodded. Nami and Zoro seemed to take notice of this, but didn’t say anything. I wasn’t sure if they thought it wasn’t their place or if they just didn’t care.

“Attention, pirate cats!” Urara lead herself to the front of the pack, getting the attention of Luffy and Chopper, who were still goofing off by themselves. “It’s time we get on with our tour of Cyanoc’s Main Street!” She gestured for them to follow and lead on.

Sanji wasted no time floating beside her, going on about how beautiful she was. The others followed, but Zoro seemed to linger slightly longer than the others. He shrugged as he left.

“Scott,” Rocky only started once the pirates were out of earshot, “Do you remember when we sent you to do that story on the Barney Farms trophy room?”

“Yeah,” I shifted to face him, taking his arm off me, “Why?”

“Do you remember what was on the main display stand?”

“Of course.”

* * *

 

“How about this one?” Nami posed in the door to the dressing room, wearing a pink dress with a dangerously low neckline and a mermaid skirt, with a slit running up the side. 

“The color might be a bit much,” Robin said, emerging from her own booth. She had on a long-sleeved gown, with a scooping neckline and tasteful cuts on the side, showing skin. The skirt slit up part of the front to show one leg. “I think this might be a bit too experimental.” She posed in the mirror, letting her free leg come in front as if to test the effect.

“It looks great on you though!” Urara came out of the third dressing room, wearing a silver gown with a flowing skirt and a long cape that came over from one shoulder. She spun around, letting the whole thing take up twice the space than when it was at rest. “At least I know I can move in this one!”

Nami re-emerged from the dressing room in a different dress. This one hugged her chest with no straps, instead form-fitting until stopping short in front and the rest of the skirt flowing long behind her. She posed for the mirror, letting the sequined designs on the dress sparkle in the light. “I like this one, but I don’t know if I have any shoes for it.”

“We could always get shoes while we’re here,” Robin suggested. Her next dress was a conservative, floor-length white number, with a scooped neckline, but at the hem it faded into a bright purple. She smiled at the effect and grabbed the matching floor-length sash, which also faded to purple. “But more importantly…”

“Hm?” Urara emerged again, sensing a chance in the atmosphere. This dress was a pastel pink with a deep V neckline, with gold trim on the neckline and around the “waist” of the dress, before flowing out into the skirt. She spun with it, as if to try and ligthen the mood. Robin just folded her arms over her chest.

“You’ve been hiding something from us.” Robin’s mouth was curled into an amused smiled, but she wasn’t budging. Nami put her hands on her hips, debating whether to change before this got, potentially, ugly. Noting Urara’s holsters were still in her dressing room, she elected to stay where she could see her.

“You’re a sharp one,” Urara admitted, leaning on the wall. “But I wouldn’t say I was hiding anything.”

Robin shook her head. “No, you just wanted us to leave without getting involved. Just like Scott. Correct?” Nami looked between them, calculating something.

“It’s not your fight,” She agreed, picking herself off the wall. “But I’ll put it this way. As long as you behave, you’ll be able to leave, no problem.” She smiled, but something about her eyes conveyed a great sadness.

They stood in silence for a minute. Finally, Robin shifted. “If that’s all you’ll say, so be it.” And she went back into her dressing booth. 

* * *

 

Rocky was worried when he sent me to Gar & Nash Tailors, and to be honest I was too. But he wouldn’t give me all the facts no matter how much I argued, so all I could do was get ready for my tux and hope I could keep my cool.

Unfortunately for me, the Straw Hats were making a mess of an already messy store. Chopper was in Heavy Point but seemed nervous about needing to take up so much fabric as Louie Gar took his measurements, while Howard Nash was doing his best to deal with Luffy - who was bouncing up and down too much to be properly measured. Zoro was the only one doing fine, but his tailor, the ever-nervous Lucy Mint, kept stopping and blushing.

Usopp had taken it upon himself to try and haggle with Belle Nash, the cashier and Howard’s wife, about the price of fabric, as if that was a thing you did here, and she was getting  _ increasingly _ irritated. And Sanji was waiting in a lounge area, presumably either not needing a new tux, having already been measured, or waiting to get measured. But judging by the death glare he was giving Zoro, I had to guess he wasn’t happy with him getting the girl tailor.

I sighed, walking over to the cashier. I was sure Urara already handled this before they started getting measured, but Usopp was not helping this situation.

“I am the greatest pirate captain to ever set sail!” Usopp was saying, his leg on top of a nearby chair to aid his heroic pose. I pushed him aside to stand in front of Belle Nash.

“I’m sorry for the trouble,” I carefully placed my foot to prevent Usopp from getting up and protesting, “Did Urara already explain the situation, or…?”

“Something like that,” She was clearly still annoyed, but seemed glad I was being reasonable. “You must be Scott, right?” I nodded, “She said you’d be coming later. She said the BBT would be paying for everything, so we’ll be sending an invoice in the next week.” She glared down to Usopp, who was struggling against my foot in his face. “Which I’ve been trying to explain to him.”

“Understood, we’ll stop bothering you now.” I grabbed Usopp and brought him to the lounge area. “So everything’s business as usual?”

Sanji nodded, his eyes not moving from Lucy Mint. “More or less since Urara said I couldn’t help them pick dresses. What did Rocky need?”

I shook my head. “Nothing important.” I paused. “Just something about work, I guess.” I mean, it was true, all things considered.

“I see,” He took a long dragon of cigarette, before blowing a smoke ring into the air. “Well, hopefully these morons will all be properly dressed for once.” He gestured vaguely towards Zoro and Luffy, then, with less emphasis, to Usopp.

“Who are you calling a moron, you shitty cook?!” Zoro said, somehow hearing him from across the room. But he didn’t move an inch as Lucy took his measurements, which I admired.

“Who are you calling a shitty cook, shitty marimo!”

I sighed, sinking deeper into the couch. This was going to be a  _ long _ day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with that, we're done with the pre-party part of the arc! Sorry it's a bit short this time. But with the party starting next time, we should be getting to actual plot. Which means we should be getting some answers about the mysteries of Cyanoc soon. But if you have any questions about Scott that aren't directly plot related, feel free to throw them at my tumblr, [bbtscott.](https://bbtscott.tumblr.com)
> 
> For some chapter trivia: I was originally just going to do an extended evening gown montage this chapter, but Robin decided to be cryptic and dramatic as usual.


	6. Lost for Words

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The party has begun, and the Straw Hats and the staff of the BBT are fully enjoying it. But when the guest of honor, Captain Nakaji, takes to the stage, things take a nosedive.

“I hate ties.”

I pulled on my own to emphasize the point.

“You just gonna know how to rock it.” Rocky’s tux situation was much more casual than mine, with just a black suit, a red shirt, and a black tie — his jacket open and hands in his pockets to emphasize that, even in dress clothes, he was totally casual.

And before you ask, of  _ course _ he still had on his sunglasses.

“I would have if I’d been allowed to use a clip-on.”

“A clip-on? At a black tie affair?” Urara gave me a dirty look. I sighed, defeated.

The venue for Captain Nakaji’s grand ball was the ballroom in the central part of City Hall. Cyanoc City Hall used to be the mansion of one of the city’s founders, built up over years, but soon after his death the family sold the house to the city to use as the seat of its government. Thus, it often felt more like a home than a place of business, and it had become tradition for the Mayor to live in the house during his stay.

Thinking about this, I stole a glance at the far-right window on our approach. I wasn’t really looking for anything, but Mayor Marron always made me nervous.

Urara had taken a few hours to finish her dress selection, but she finally landed on a close-cut gown with sleeves, in a shiny silver. She had long, pale gold gloves that met the dress’s sleeves, and a pale gold, shimmery bow that wrapped around the waist and draped down as long as the skirt, which pinched in at her knees to create a mermaid silhouette. I can only imagine how much the ensemble cost, but her jewelry was actually fairly minimal, just a pair of gold earrings.

I, for my part, hated wearing a tux, especially when the guy measured me. I could still hear him clicking his tongue in disapproval at my numbers. But I had a basic black tux with a gold vest and patterned tie, gold-and-black. I’d also been forced to wear an actual belt but I already hated that, too, for how much it dug into my skin.

But all of this was really just distracting me from what I hated most about the party.

“Guys! Over here!”

The Straw Hats had arrived before us, but apparently decided to wait for us outside. Luffy was jumping up and down, enough that we could see his shirt was only half tucked in. (Nami was yelling at him, presumably about this thing.) It was otherwise a very basic tux, no vest or cummerbund or anything. Just a bright red bow-tie, which I can only imagine Nami, Robin, or Sanji tied for him.

“Hello!” Urara greeted as we approached. Rocky and I waved, instead, but the grinning captain in front of us didn’t seem to mind.

“I love the dresses you two picked out!” Urara pointed towards Nami and Robin as if she could have been talking about any other people in the mix. I glanced along the sea of tuxes that was our group, but decided to let it slide.

“I know, doesn’t it look great?” Nami spun around, letting her dress flare out around her.

Sanji and Rocky squatted down as if to get a peak under the skirt. On cue, I kicked them both across the face, sending them spiralling away.

“Pervs.” Nami balled her fist at them, but seemed to think the kick was enough. “The lady tried to tell me I shouldn’t wear red, but I think I look pretty good.” It was an off-the-shoulder dress, with the neckline made of two parts which crossed over each other. The skirt was partially pleated, and only came to about her knees, but gave it a flowing quality.

“I thought you wanted something with fur…?”

“They didn’t have any.” She waved the thought away. “It’s a summer island, so it’s not like fur is in high demand.”

“Plus it was too expensive.” Robin suppressed a giggle, stepping almost in front of the other girl. Her dress felt more mature, with a long black silhouette and deeper cleavage. But black lace ran up from the dress’s first neckline, meeting her neck and reaching her shoulders before the lace stopped. Turned to the side, I realized it also ran all the way down her back, until the dress started again.

“So are we headed inside?” Usopp interrupted. He had opted for a yellow cumberbund and bow tie to go with his tux, and to mark the occasion he tied his hair back into a ponytail. He’d also slicked back his hair and left the bandanna behind, which is when I realized I’d never seen him without it or his goggles.

“Just follow me, dudes!” Rocky lead the way before we could question it.

I shifted my eyes to take a look at Zoro. He had gone for something slightly more casual than Rocky, the suit itself a plain back with little embellishment. The shirt was white with a black tie and, barely visible under his still-button coat, a green vest. But somehow he felt he could get away with keeping part of the collar unbuttoned, his black and green tie still tied but loose and kept under the neckline.

I looked away before he could catch me staring.

“What kind of food do they have here, anyway?” Sanji flicked his cigarette away from himself, letting the ash hit the road. He’d gone for something a little more nonstandard than his fellows, with gray pants and vest, and a striped pastel-blue-and-navy tie. His black coat even had coattails, revealing the inside fabric was the same navy as his tie.

“Despite what you’d expect, there won’t be any blueberries at tonight’s event.” Rocky had instinctually gone into “background information” mode. “Captain Nakaji is notorious for his dislike of the fruit, so Mayor Marron went all-out to import all the food tonight.”

“And who told you that?” Urara winked as if she knew the answer already.

“Oh, uh,” Rocky pulled at his collar, “I heard Dixie Barney complaining about it yesterday.”

“Mm-hmmm.”

“Are you still sure it’s okay that we’re here?” Chopper looked up at me as if I would know the answer. After a long discussion with Gar and Nash - and a longer period calming them down that Chopper was not, in fact, a monster - Chopper decided it’d be cheaper if he got a tux for Brain Point instead of Heavy Point. Plus, he wouldn’t need to pay for shoes. So now he had on a white shirt and coat, with black on the lapels and bowtie, with black pants. It would have been retro on a larger person, but on him it just looked cute.

“Mayor Marron sent us invitations for you and everything,” I said, pulling an envelope out of my inner coat pocket. (The only useful part of wearing these clothes.) “As long as you don’t break any laws while on the island, Nakaji will not touch you.”

“Isn’t that already breaking the law?” Usopp scratched his chin on the other side of me, examining the building. I wondered whether he was trying to find good exit points or simply committing it to memory for future story use. In the end, it was probably a little bit of both.

“You know what I mean.” I pushed the envelope back into my breast pocket, the feeling of important documentation in my pockets not entirely unfamiliar.

* * *

 

“And now presenting our guest of honor!”

The party was in full swing as we arrived, the people of town excited to have an excuse to dress up and be merry. Even the wait staff seemed to be having a good time, stopping and chatting with the guests and generally smiling. By all accounts, I should have been having a great time.

“Guest of honor my ass,” I mumbled under my breath.

Urara shot me a dirty look from across the room, as if she heard me.

I sighed, leaning further down into my chair. I was in a corner of the room, having made a pass around the party talking to people who I knew or who knew me. When the dancing started I would probably find Urara and get her to dance with me — she was always looking for partners, and I liked dancing. I shot a look at Zoro, who had taken a position on the wall of the opposite corner, drinking from a wine glass but clearly uncomfortable. I shook my head.

“Captain Hirono Nakaji!” Mayor Marron turned on the stage, letting the curtain part behind him to reveal the man in question. 

Captain Nakaji was a firm, tall man, with long black hair pulled into a tight tail at the nape of his neck, and a thin goatee. He always wore a severe grin that made it seem like everything was according to some unspoken plan of his.

I’d recognize it anywhere.

“I must extend my deepest and most sincere gratitude to the people of Cyanoc!” He extended his arms, letting the marine captain coat on his shoulders flare out. I always wondered why they felt the fringe on the shoulders was a good idea, but on him it only served to make his already broad shoulders look mountainous.

“It is through the combined efforts of the people here and my crew that we repelled the pirates that attacked,” He moved his arms, as if to elevate his speech. “Which is why I must extend some of the spotlight to my most trusted officers. Come on out, girls!”

I blinked. I forgot that Nakaji had an actual crew, somehow.

“But of course.” The woman coming out now was tall, easily matching Nakaji’s height, with a thin, lithe body, carefully contained in an intricately patterned black-and-red kimono. Her hair was long, black, and perfectly straight in a way that made it seem unreal, save for an intricate bun on one side with a fancy gold-and-red ornament surrounding and dangling off it.

“This is my closest guard, and no woman can match her skill with a naginata.” She smiled politely, but I realized now that she never once opened her eyes. “Commander Nadeshiko has single-handedly fought off hundreds of pirates, and has never once left my side.”

She bowed to the clapping audience, her actions straight and perfect. “While Nakaji exaggerates my actions, I do thank you for your praise nevertheless.”

Sanji started to make a beeline for the stage, hearts in his eyes, but Usopp tripped him, causing a slight, but ultimately ignorable commotion.

“Don’t forget about us!”

Behind Nadeshiko came three more girls, younger in appearance; they were maybe about Nami’s age, but compared to Nakaji and Nadeshiko they looked much younger.

“I’m Miki!” The first said, striking a pose. She had long, wavy blond hair, with green eyes and a pale green tank top, a marine jacket tied around her waist. Under that, she had short shorts and long, pale green stockings. She either hadn’t heard that tonight was a formal event, or was told to wear her “uniform.” Either way, she was thin, but toned, a build made for dexterity.

“I’m Kiki.” The second girl had an almost identical build and face, leading me to believe they were twins of some sort. But she had no emotion in her voice or face, and her short black hair and blue eyes differentiated her. She had a similar “uniform” to the first girl, but in pale blue, with a matching bow in her hair.

“And I’m Shiki!” The third girl also had an identical face, but her body was much more muscular, toned for strength rather than dexterity. She was also slightly taller, with a pink version of their costume, and I realized now their pose was intended as a full-group effort placing Shiki in the middle, perhaps because she naturally stood out the most. Her hair was burgundy, held in a short side-tail over her shoulder.

“These three… energetic ensigns,” Nakaji rushed to explain their eccentricity, “Have been with my crew since they joined the marines, and have brought an unparalleled energy to our group. I truly would not be here today without their constant support.”

Across the room, I saw Rocky tap a finger against his pants pocket, where I knew his notepad was. He did this whenever he felt he had an answer to something, but not on the top of his head. Dixie, who had been happily chatting with him all night (and trying to get his attention in her short, tight-fitting yellow dress with black waist and patterning) had only noticed the severity of his expression when Nakaji came on stage.

“And before the festivities truly go under way,” Nakaji continued, bringing himself and his microphone across the stage. I saw Mayor Marron shift nervously, and wondered if he was going off-script. “I must admit that I have an announcement to make.”

One of Nakaji’s rank-and-file came down, wheeling a platform covered in a sheet. Dixie gasped, and I straightened.

At this point, Nami noticed something, too, shifting her way across the back of the room and around to me. Robin moved more casually, on her way to Urara.

“The pirates caused much chaos and destruction,” His patter was causing a pit to grow in my stomach, “And in that chaos, much was lost. But on that ship we discovered the reason for their attack — a reason we could not ignore.”

Robin made it to Urara, but said nothing yet, just crossed her arms.

“And it is my sincere belief that you, the people of Cyanoc Island, deserve to know the reason the pirates attacked.” He pulled the sheet off with a flourish.

My heart sank.

Dixie gasped, Rocky grabbing her shoulder to steady her.

Urara’s body stiffened, for once not posing.

Nami finally reached me, but stopped when she saw it.

On the pedestal was a fist-sized blueberry, still sitting on a small golden platform, like a trophy. It flared on top in a star shape, with swirls adorning its surface. It seemed to radiate a dark energy, the light hitting it but not fully reflecting. One could practically smell it from the crowd, now that the sheet wasn’t obscuring it.

I stood, walking past Nami pointedly.

“The pirates had stolen this — the one and only Star Star Fruit of Cyanoc island!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter came out easier than I expected, so here's a faster chapter turnover than normal! Plot's happening, and it's only going to keep happening. Hell, in a couple of chapters, we'll even get to the fight scenes! But that's getting ahead of ourselves.
> 
> We haven't had much time to meet Mayor Marron, which may or may not come up in the future, but with him, Nakaji, and the other marines introduced, we've met all of the major players of the arc. And we shouldn't have any more costume changes, so if you weren't a fan of the evening wear descriptions, we're done with most of those.
> 
> If you're enjoying the story, I encourage you to leave a comment here or at the [tumblr](https://bbtscott.tumblr.com) for the Sails and Stardust series!


	7. Lost Property

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Star Star Fruit is in the hands of the Marines, and this is the worst case scenario for the BBT staff. As they try to figure out a game plan, it turns out someone is listening in...

“He can’t be serious.” Urara’s tone was matter-of-fact, but she also was the last of us to leave the hall. I was almost disappointed that Nami had decided not to follow me, but it was probably for the best.

“He is.” Rocky was leaning against the wall, arms crossed, face stoic.

“He’s not going to return it.” I was thinking aloud, but Urara shook her head.

“You missed the last part of the announcement.” Urara shot a look back inside, obviously thinking of Dixie. “He’s going to turn it over to the Marines.” She turned back to us, hand hovering over her hip, where she usually had her holsters.

“But that’s not—”

“Legal?” Rocky straightened, walking past me as if to examine the nearby topiary. “Actually, it is. The marines have a long history of rulings and laws about pirate treasures belonging to the marines after they’ve been recovered.” He scratched his chin, admiring the vaguely animal-shaped bush. “And more to the point, Devil Fruit are dangerous enough that Marines have specific laws to keep them under Marine custody once they are obtained. They can’t seize them from civilians, but should they take them from a pirate…”

I balled up my fists, staring straight down. 

“Mind if I ask a question?”

I turned, looking towards the source of this new voice. Urara grabbed the air where her gun would be, then seemed to consider lifting her dress to get them. Rocky didn’t move, but even from behind I could see him smirk. The voice came from above us, on the balcony. Nami was leaning against the railing, regarding us with interest but hiding her emotional involvement.

“Who owned the fruit before the pirates stole it?”

“I suppose you already have a theory.” It was only half a question, with Rocky seeming to think she’d already pieced it together.

“Usopp told me about the Berny Farms trophy room,” Nami shifted casually, “And judging by it being a blueberry, there are only a few farms that it could belong to. But most tellingly,” She pointed to Rocky, “I saw Dixie’s reaction when she saw the fruit. It wasn’t the first time she’d seen it.” She turned around, so she was facing away from us, looking at the sky. “Am I right?”

“Of course.” Urara relaxed, walking around behind me to get a better look at the balcony.

“That fruit,” I started, trying vainly to hide my anger, “was part of the first crop ever grown by the Barney family. Because it’s a devil fruit, it doesn’t rot — so it’s been on display as a symbol of success since they started.”

“Until recently.” Another voice came from the balcony, but Dixie’s accent marked her immediately. She stood next to Nami, speaking to her directly. “We’ve been having… difficulties. The marines always knew we had the fruit, and they never pressed the issue. But about a few months ago, I was approached about… selling it.” She winced.

“After that, I noticed our supplies turning less and less profit. More and more pirates have been attacking and stealing export ships, and it’s put such a strain on us that…” She looked at Nami desparately.

“I understand.” Nami nodded to herself, as if it was all clear to her now.

“... you understand  _ what _ ?” I dreaded where this was going.

Nami turned to us, winking. “We’ll help you out!”

I stared at her, knowing she’d say this and yet surprised she made the leap anyway. Urara was more amused than anything, but clearly unconvinced, walking beside me with a hand on her hip. Rocky even stifled a laugh, moving for the first time to face her. Dixie was the most incredulous, jumping backwards.

She turned sideways, making an “okay” sign at us. “For a price, of course.”

* * *

 

“So you want us to steal the fruit?”

“During the party?”

“When it’s literally on display on the main stage of the ballroom?”

“Of course!” Nami was clearly confident in her plan, but I wasn’t convinced, and neither were my coworkers.

The ones who were convinced, however, were Zoro and Luffy, who Nami had dragged into our deliberation process. Usopp was too busy regaling locals with his tales of faraway lands — I think a giant lobster was involved? — Sanji was too busy trying to flirt — or serve? Question mark? — Nadeshiko, and Robin was MIA. 

When Nami described her plan, Zoro spent the whole time with a smirk on his face, as if he was  _ finally _ going to have fun. I couldn’t help but admire his confidence, if I was being honest.

Luffy, on the other hand, seemed confident in Nami, but bummed that his part of the plan was to be “lookout.”

“Why even tell me about this plan if I’m just gonna be sitting outside the whole time!”

“Because in case you haven’t noticed,” Nami smacked him on the side of the head, sending him crashing off the railing he’d perched himself on, “you are the  _ least _ stealthy person we know. And besides, your job is to step in if anyone else fails.”

“So?” Luffy rubbed the glowing red bump on his head.

“ _ So, _ your job is the most important.” She held up her finger, like a school teacher berating a child. “Even if someone else messed up, you can step in to make sure we can still succeed.”

“I still want to punch this Marine Gramps guy,” Luffy grumbled, picking his nose.

“Join the club.” I crossed my arms.

“If everything goes to plan, we won’t have to.” Nami turned to face us BBT employees. “Now the only thing left is to update Usopp and Sanji. I’ll get Sanji, so Scott you should get Usopp and get into position.”

“Got it.” I nodded, despite all my misgivings.

“Everyone else, get into position.”

“Wait, we’re starting  _ now?!”  _ Rocky, who had been calm up until now, jumped back. “We haven’t had any time to prepare!”

“Now  _ is _ the time to prepare.” Nami pointed at him, again in a chiding motion. “This party isn’t going to last forever, and Nakaji is probably going to make off with the fruit the second he and his crew leave.”

“I do have one question.” Dixie raised her hand politely; her only part in the plan wasn’t until late in the plan. “How are we paying you for all this?” She shifted. “I mean, you said you’d do this for a price, but you gave us the plan without specifying…”

There was a pause. Nami considered it for a moment, seemingly debating something in her head. Then she smiled. “My payment will be the Star Star Fruit…” Dixie’s eyes widened, and she was about to protest. “… at a slightly discounted price.” Dixie stopped stopped herself, confusion on her face. 

“That’s…”

“Do we have the money for that?” Zoro’s smirk was gone, shooting Nami a look of disapproval.

“We have enough,” She waved him off, “Devil Fruit are practically priceless — do you know how much they go for on the black market? But I’m not heartless.” She took a piece of paper out of her purse, writing something on it. She folded it, and held it out to Dixie. “That’s as much as I can offer for the fruit, understanding the situation. Is that fair?”

Dixie took it hesitantly. “WHAT?!” She started fidgeting, looking left and right with nervous energy. “You— You can’t possibly be serious!”

“I am.” Nami smiled, and Zoro and Luffy looked at eachother. Zoro nodded.

“But this is— this is too much—” She shook her head, trying to calm down. “This is more than the Marines offered—”

Nami walked over, taking Dixie’s hands in her own. “This is only a fraction of its worth, but it  _ is _ enough to cover repairs and the losses from shipping. Right?”

Dixie nodded.

“Then that’s all that matters.” Nami smiled warmly, and I realized, for the first time, that Nami was motivated as much by generosity as by greed.

Dixie nodded again, smiling.

“Now. Who’s ready to steal from the marines?”

* * *

 

“Nope.” Usopp tried to walk past me, towards the door. “I refuse.”

“You haven’t even heard it yet.” I had pulled him into a side-room, off the main ballroom, keeping the door just open enough to not be suspicious. But no one had seemed to follow us, and my pulling Usopp by the ear  _ hopefully _ gave the impression of me being angry at his behavior. Which, by the fact that he almost knocked over a bus boy and was screaming about being “the greatest pirate captain who ever lived,” was not unreasonable.

“You’re going to tell me that Luffy has decided to fight someone,” Usopp pointed a finger at me accusatory, “And that I have to do something to either stop him or help him.”

“I mean,” I shifted, “If all goes to plan,  _ Luffy _ won’t be fighting anyone.”

Usopp tried to push past me again, but I shifted to stand in his way, arms crossed. Even at his most prepared, I doubted Usopp could match me in a match of strength. Or at the very least, a match of strength where my weight was a factor…

Usopp pushed his whole weight against me, at one point pushing his bony shoulder and elbow into me, but after a few futile minutes, he leaned forward, his arms drooping under him.

“I give…”

“Great!” He glared at me. “All you have to do is help create a distraction.”

“... distraction?”

“And the best part is, you won’t even be the distraction!”

Usopp stared at me and my fake confident smile. Then after a moment, he straightened up, stretching his back, and walked towards the door. 

“Then I guess you better explain.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one took me a bit! Also I might be a little too invested in ending segments with quotes. But whatever, this chapter's out.
> 
> This heist was the part I was actually really excited about! But I have a lot of class stuff coming up so who knows how long it'll take for me to get to it.
> 
> Also, remember to leave a comment here or on the [tumblr](https://bbtscott.tumblr.com)! I really enjoy getting feedback and it's really encouraging for me to keep writing and publishing this.


	8. Lost Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nami's heist is planned to start soon, but something seems to be on her mind. It might just be time for Scott to give her the full story, but can he really trust a pirate with the whole story? And why is he hiding this story, anyway?

“Usopp’s in position.”

“Good. Did you see Robin?”

“No.” I slumped, leaning against the punch table. “Otherwise we could just have her grab the fruit.”

“That’s one way to use her powers.” Nami shook her head, “But it’s not what I need her for.”

I raised an eyebrow. I’ll admit, I was still seriously worried about this plan, especially with not having Robin involved. Having spontaneously generated limbs anywhere we want in the ballroom would be useful, but I couldn’t imagine a more important use than getting the berry. It’d be much harder to see an arm than a full standing body.

Nami turned to see the clock on the wall nearest to us, setting her cup of punch back on the table. Then she scowled, grabbing me by the wrist and rushing us to the door of the room.

“Hey, wait!”

“Excuse us!”

“Sorry!”

She lead me back through the main hall, and I kept having to apologize to the various partygoers we had to go through. Only about half of them seemed to be people who recognized me either as the newspaper kid or the guy that got thrown off the rescue ship.

Nami brought us to a stop in the rose garden behind the mansion, which was just about where her position was. I sat at the bench to catch my breath while she caught hers. Then, she turned to me suddenly.

“Scott.”

“Yeah?”

“I need you to be honest with me.”

I stared at her, slowly nodding. I guess she brought me out here to talk before we started, though I wasn’t sure what she might still need to know. We already told her why Nakaji had the fruit.

“Were there really any pirates?”

Oh. That.

“W… what?” I may have hesitated a bit too much.

Nami sat next to me, sighing. “I’ve seen pirate attacks. Been a part of a few.” I gave her a look, and she shook her head. “Not with these guys. Before I joined them.” She looked at me, staring pointedly at my eyes. “What was the name of the pirate captain who attacked?”

I gulped. “I… I don’t know.” That was only half true.

“And you were face-to-face with him?”

“Yeah.” I shrugged, looking away. “It was an… intense moment.”

“I’ve never known a pirate captain who didn’t announce his name every second of every day. Luffy included.” She grabbed my shoulder. “So either you’re lying, or he wasn’t really a pirate captain.”

I was frozen. “And how long have you had this theory?”

“I’ll admit, I didn’t think anything of it at first,” Nami took her hand off my shoulder, realizing I wasn’t turning around just yet. “But no one has mentioned the pirates’ names since we docked. Not even at Barney Farms, who got hit the hardest.” She paused. “Even at the BBT, no one had any information about the pirates.”

I could only nod.

“And even at the ceremony, the mayor and Captain Nakaji never said the names of the pirates. Not once.” I turned finally, to see she was looking off in the distance. I faced forward, staring at a spot on the ground.

We sat in silence for a minute. I didn’t know how much time we had until the plan started, though Nami was the one who had to give the signal, and it was going to take Usopp some time for his part of the plan.

“... so you wanted to know before we started the plan?”

“If we’re going to be working together on this plan, I need to have all the facts straight.”

“Then I guess it’s time to give you the full story, huh.”

* * *

 “Hey Scott, you got a second?”

I hated those words. It was a standard work night at the BBT, and I was still working on the edits to one of Rocky’s stories. I swore he made some of these errors on purpose, or otherwise I wondered why there weren’t more editors in the office. But I was tired of hunching over my desk and re-reading Rocky’s interview about marine tax policy for the 17th time, so I walked into Urara’s office when she asked.

“Yep.” I plopped onto one of her egg-shaped chairs, taking in the pink-and-orange decor, which was the epitome of funky.

She locked the door behind me, and I was upright immediately.

“I’m sorry to spring this on you so suddenly.” She walked over to her desk, looking through her drawers for something. Her desk was always immaculate, though that was probably less for function and more to not distract from its futuristic bubble shape. “But I have to ask for a favor.”

“A… favor?”

“It’s just me being paranoid,” She laughed to cover her obvious nervousness. “Or I guess you could say it’s just a precaution.”

“For what?”

Urara sighed, finally grabbing a manilla folder from the depths of her desk. “Rocky and I have been working on a very in-depth story for the last few months.”

“You mean that thing you guys keep whispering about when you think I can’t hear you?”

She blinked. “Yes. So how much do you already know?”

“Literally nothing.” I nodded, leaning back in the chair. “Just that you guys have been up to something for a while.”

“Well, I’m sorry to say I can’t fully bring you up to speed.” She slid the folder across the desk, within my reach. “At least, not yet.” She looked at me carefully.  


“So what can you tell me?” I looked at the folder, but didn’t pick it up. I needed more information.

“These are the notes for the story we’ve been working on.” She spoke clearly and quickly in a harsh whisper, leaning over the desk to close the gap between us. “Every interview, every photo, every document, all in one folder.” She paused. “I’ll be making a backup copy of this tomorrow, but between now and then I want you to keep an eye on this folder.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“Rocky and I believe our… target, may be onto us.”

“And they don’t want the story to get out?” I finished for her.

“Exactly.” She slid the folder even closer to me. “So until now and when we make a backup, they will never expect you to have the file.”

“Wait, backup.” I held up my hands to stop her. “You think they’re going to come into the building and take the file? What are they, pirates?”

She bit her lip. Oh.

“Just… keep the folder where you can keep track of it, okay?” She picked it up, walking around the desk to stand right in front of me. She held it out to me, and I stared at it. After just a moment, I took it from her.

“And I assume you don’t want me to look inside?”

“Bingo.” She shrugged, smiling apologetically. “Unless something happens.”

I nodded, holding the folder out in front of me. “Unless something happens.”

* * *

 “Everyone out of the building!”

I turned quickly, to see our security guy yelling as he came from the stairwell.

“Pirates! Pirates are attacking the island!”

I froze.

It felt like something was squeezing my chest. And then, after a moment, I took off. I was halfway across the hall before I remembered the file. It crossed my mind that maybe the pirates were who the file was about, but filed it out of my mind.

By the time I was out of the building, file in hand, most of the island was in a panic. I could see the pirates in the distance, with a plain Jolly Roger — just a skull and crossbones, not even a bandanna or swords — setting a cannon at the island. But they weren’t aimed high enough to get to the BBT, despite it being effectively the easiest target on the island. I mean, a giant glass building on the highest point? Instead, they were pock-marking the village, with a secondary ship firing at Barney Farms.

I took off down the street, hoping my legs wouldn’t give out on me before I made it to the evacuation ship. On Mist, we would have hid in our houses and basements, but Cyanoc’s protocol was to get ready on an evacuation ship so that the Marines would have an easier time protecting the ship. After all, we had a close relationship with the Marines, being a News Island.

“Watch where you’re going!”

“Stop shoving!”

“Sorry!” There were stragglers in the street, but given how important the file I was currently shoving into the front of my hoodie-vest — zipping up over it to make it easier to hide and carry — I wasn’t about to get it or myself shot at by the pirates.

The fact that being on the evac ship made it easier to get shot at by pirates only briefly crossed my mind.

“Rocky!”

He turned to see I was running down the street, as he was interviewing one of the evacuees on her way out of her house. He closed his notebook and waved her off as I came to stop in front of him.

I tried to catch my breath.

“Scott, dude!” He pocketed his notepad. “Did you get the thing from Urara before all this started?”

I gave him a thumbs up, still bent over in half. I _desperately_ needed to get in shape.

“And do you have it on you?”

Another thumbs up.

“Awesome! Listen, Urara and I have to do something before we can get on the evacuation ship—” I looked up at him finally, eyebrow raised. “—so you should go on ahead, and find a safe place for the thing.”

“What do you have to do that’s more important than—” I was interrupted by a cannonball landing directly behind me. I stood up stiff as a board.

Rocky put his hand on my shoulder, smiling at me. “Don’t worry about it. Just get safe.” And he ran off, leaving me with a smoking cannonball crater and a dangerous file in my shirt.

Well.

I needed more information, and everyone was already running away. Time to read a possibly illegal file I was told specifically not to read.

“Captain Nakaji,” I read, flipping up his photo paper clipped to the top left of the file. The first page just seemed to be his basic information, and nothing really jumped out at me. After all, I recognized him instantly.

He was well-known around the island as being our primary connection to the Marines. His base was only a short way from Cyanoc, meaning he and Mayor Marron often had meetings about… something or other. I read about them occasionally but they were always about boring infrastructure stuff and Marine involvement with the island.

“And these are…?” A transaction sheet was under his bio, showing dates and transactions labeled as gifts or “campaign contributions” to Mayor Marron, but none of them were named. I raised an eyebrow.

“I hope you have some evidence for that, Rocky.”

The rest of the file was hard for me to parse at first: files on damages to Barney Farms ships, arrival and departure times for different ships from Nakaji’s base, the previous locations Nakaji was based out of, short bios of Nakaji’s closest subordinates, clippings from news stories about devil fruits and pirate attacks.

“I don’t have time to figure this all out.” I decided after a few minutes of scanning, closing the file and placing it back in my vest. “But at least I know who I’m running from. I think.”

I got back to running, noticing the cannonfire on the island proper had slowed down. Maybe the Marines were on their way? But I didn’t see the ships on the horizon, though I wasn’t going to check behind me until I got on the ship. I rolled forward as another stray cannonball fell near me.

It occurred to me again that maybe hiding out in town would be a better idea after all.

* * *

 I made it to the ship in what was, for me, record time. After a quick show of ID and declaration of my things — sans the folder — the sailors let me onto the ship. It was almost a good thing that I’d forgotten my things back at work other than this folder. Almost.

“Get below deck,” the shiphand waved me down, and I realized for the first time the evacuation boat was mostly made of metal. “And stay there until the Marines say it’s safe.”

“Right,” I mumbled, shuffling past him, my hands in my pockets subconsciously pressing against the folder in my vest. I had one job and I was going to do it.

Or so I thought.

“The pirates!” I heard from behind me. I turned on instinct, just in time to see the cannonball flying in our direction. I dove as it made contact with the water, the impact shaking the whole boat and sending a column of water into the air. It was already showering down when I looked up and saw the pirate ship approaching us.

“The rigging!” One of the deckhands barked, shoving me to the side. Painful as it was — literally — I couldn’t blame them for their hurry. I scrambled to my feet, trying desparately to get a grip on the deck with all the water still falling on us. Another cannonball made contact on the other side of our ship, sending me back to the ground and sliding to the other side of the deck.

“Sir! There’s still evacuees!”

The captain of the ship grunted, looking towards the group coming towards the dock. He thought for a second, before turning back to the knot he was untying. “Keep the gate up, but we leave when we’re ready to leave.” The sailors looked at eachother, nodded, and got back to work. I got up again, scrambling to get below deck.

When the third cannonball sent me flying, I was getting tired of it.

“Leave harbor and the villagers get it!” The whole ship, myself included, looked up to find the pirate ship had, at some point, snuck up on the ship, and the captain was now straddling the gap between the two ships.

The captain wore a darkly color mask covering his whole face, with white menacing eyes. The rest of his crew was already boarding, wearing similar masks of varying shapes and sizes. He leaned onto our ship, casually strolling on as the deckhands were overrun by his much more experienced crew.

“Now I won’t say I’m not a generous man.” He made a motion, and both ships started off away from Cyanoc at full speed; I was honestly shocked he’d taken control of ours so quickly. Maybe at another time I would have questioned it, but I was clinging to the wall for life.

“I have one demand. Just the one.” He strolled around the ship as he talked. Occasionally a deckhand jerked as if to make a move, but the nearest pirate usually pressed their advantage — usually a gun, sword, or knife — which stopped it before it could start. “Someone on this ship has something I want. Something valuable.”

“We didn’t bring anything but food and the clothes on our back!” I spoke before I even had a chance to think about what I was saying. Well, so much for quick thinking.

The captain laughed, circling around to me. I seemed to be the one person on deck without a pirate to threaten me. This, ironically, did not make me feel safer.

“You’re a brave fool, to speak to a pirate captain like that.” He leaned down into me, so close I could smell his breath. He smelled like rum and something I couldn’t place — something industrial, maybe, like freshly-printed cloth. “Or a brave liar.” He lifted his mask.

I stared at Captain Nakaji, unbreathing.

“The folder.”

“What?”

He kicked me to the side, and I felt all the air in my lungs leave me. He readjusted his mask, then came over to me and leaned down. I felt him unzip my vest, grabbing the folder as easily as if he was grabbing it off his own desk. He turned to the rest of the crew and the villagers who were still on the deck.

“What do you say we celebrate his bravery?” Well, that wasn’t ominous at all. “Personally, I’ll let you all decide.” Several “pirates” rushed over, grabbing my arms and picking me up, just in time to see the people of the ship being crowded together — even from below deck. I gulped down my fear.

I looked back towards the island. With how fast we were going, it was actually pretty far away — not that I could swim very far, but if I grabbed a lifeboat and an oar…

“Now, you all have a choice. Either I blow up the ship and you all can float on the rubble with dignity…” He circled me, grabbing the ropes to the lifeboat, as if reading my mind. “Or we can send this boy here on his own, deserted in the middle of the Grand Line. Your lives for his.” He leaned in to my ear, sending a cold chill through my body. “That’s fair, isn’t it?”

* * *

 “The rest you know.”

“So he targetted you because you knew about him before this all started?” Nami’s arms were crossed as she thought over this new information.

“Well, Urara and Rocky knew,” I leaned back. “I didn’t have time to put anything together until he showed me his face.” He shook my head. “I still don’t know why he did that. Did he intend for me to die out there? Was it a taunt? To get me to give up the folder willingly?”

Nami shook her head. “I guess we’ll never know.” She stood up, smiling at me.

“Yeah, yeah.” I stood up, as well. “We have a fruit to steal.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry it's been a while. School kicked my butt right at the end of the semester. But now that I'm done with that and I had some time to cool off, I managed to finish this chapter! Unfortunately it's nothing too exciting, since a lot of this is stuff I implied/alluded to earlier. But hey, no One Piece arc is complete without a flashback chapter.
> 
> We should be getting to the heist proper next chapter, so that'll be neat.
> 
> As always, thanks for reading, and be sure to leave a comment or a kudos, it really does mean a lot to me to hear from you guys. I also have a [tumblr](https://bbtscott.tumblr.com) for the Sails and Stardust series, so if you wanna drop me something there, that'd be great, too!


	9. Lost Cause

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The heist to steal the Star Star Fruit has started, and everything's moving along as planned. So why is it everyone has a bad feeling about this? And where, exactly, is Robin?

My job for the plan was actually fairly simple. I was supposed to pull some of Nakaji’s crew members aside for an interview, taking their attention away from the stage; Rocky was going to grab Nadeshiko, while I got the triplets, giving Urara time to work with Usopp to get the audience distraction working.

The main problem, then, was getting through an interview I was not even slightly prepared for without giving away my intentions. Then again, you’d think I’d be a better liar by now.

I was supposed to wait for Sanji’s signal to start, but he was still MIA. I glanced to the stained glass window briefly, then shook my head. Can’t get distracted now. I had to trust the Straw Hats, as unusual as it was to trust pirates. (Then, I hadn’t trusted the Marines much before all this nonsense, so…)

“Don’t be so tense!” Urara startled me by tapping me on the shoulder. I’m pretty sure I actually jumped. “It’s just a party, after all.” But she gave me a look, for the briefest of moments, before returning to her champagne glass to take a sip.

“You’re right.” I shook my head, as if to shake out of my anxiety. She had a point, after all. “It’s just.” I glanced back at the stage, where the mayor and Nakaji were speaking. “... a party.”

Nami had been vague about how she was going to keep Nakaji away from the fruit, and it was perhaps the thing that most worried me about the plan. He was a Marine captain, after all, though the level to which that meant competence varied wildly from place to place, even in the Grand Line.

Sanji sauntered up from behind us, taking Urara’s hand in one smooth motion to kiss it. She took it back, though I could see her thinking about whether to smack him or not. I guess she was still deciding what she thought of him and his advances.

I, briefly, shook off the thought that I, personally, wouldn’t mind his advances.

“I see you’re enjoying the party.” Urara finally decided she wasn’t going to smack him, at least not yet. “Or at least the view.” She side-eyed a passing woman with a backless dress, who Sanji had eyed earlier. For good or bad, however, he was currently focused on Urara.

“And who doesn’t love this view?” Sanji started to kneel, but I grabbed his shoulder.

“Sanji, did you try the hors d'oeuvres yet?”

He smiled at me, lifting a hand in the air as if to say ‘I was getting to that.’ “Of course. The minced lamb is particularly fresh.” There was the signal phrase.

“Then I better try some.” Sanji, Urara, and myself split off in different directions.

It’s time to steal a devil fruit.

* * *

 “Excuse me, ladies?” My notepad was out of my pocket already; before we’d decided to steal the fruit, I figured I might be asked to interview, if only for some “person on the street” pieces. I’d found the three young marines giggling in a corner, near the punch bowl. They’d apparently found time to change into a trio of matching dresses: they were short and strapless, with high waists that turn into a heavily layered skirt. They differed only in color, with green for Miki, blue for Kiki, and pink for Shiki.

At least they were consistent.

“I’m an intern at the Blueberry Times, and I was wondering if you had some time for an interview about your work with the marines?” I paused. “Particularly under Nakaji?”

“Oh, you’re doing a story on him?” Miki practically pounced on me. “And you want to talk to _us_?!”

“Woo.” Kiki’s voice, however, betrayed no emotion.

“Of _course_ we would like to be interviewed!” Shiki grabbed me by the arm, dragging me towards the corridor. She was much stronger than me, I realized, pulling me with the ease you’d drag a stuffed animal. “Imagine girls, we’re gonna be in the papers!”

“Do you think we can get our pictures in?!” Miki was practically bouncing.

“Would we have to be in uniform?”

“Well, we _do_ still have them in the back.” Shiki waved off her sister. I realized I still wasn’t sure on if they were, in fact, sisters, but it was the most logical solution. I couldn’t be sure about them being triplets, but then I was a twin and I had _far_ less physical similarity with my own sibling than these three did with each other.

“I, uh, am not in charge of photos.” I had to stay cool and collected. This was just another interview. I was just interviewing for evidence rather than for a story. Or so I tried to reason with myself to keep myself cam. Thankfully, the girls were more focused with their own fame.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Usopp carrying something wrapped in a towel. He must have needed something else to cause the blackout.

“Oh, did you have anywhere specific in mind?” Shiki stopped suddenly, turning to me but not letting go of my arm.

“Uh, one of the side rooms is fine. Somewhere quiet enough that I can listen and take notes.” I held up my notebook as if that would mean something.

“Okay!” She barrelled through several party goers, and while I tried to apologize, I was alone in the attempt.

We ended up in a small meeting room in one of the wings, thankfully half a building away from Usopp and Urara. I pulled out a chair, sitting down and flipping through my notes to the questions I’d scrawled out maybe 5 minutes ago for this interview. I had to keep them occupied for a while, but if I had the right read on them, then I just had to get them talking about themselves.

“So, how did you end up joining the Marines?”

Miki’s eyes lit up. “Well, you see…”

* * *

 “It’s so boring up here.” Luffy pouted, head held in one of his hands.

“And hopefully it’ll stay that way.” Nami’s dress slid off her shoulders, and she found herself reflexively checking to see if Sanji was trying to sneak a peek. She was glad she’d brought a stealthier change of clothes than her dress, as much as she liked the bright red number. With a sigh, she stuffed it into the bag nearby.

“Have you seen Chopper anywhere?”

“No.” Luffy leaned further towards the edge, his squat somehow deeper than she’d ever seen someone squat.

“Weird. He’s supposed to be up here by now.” She shook her head. With Luffy, Zoro, or Usopp she’d expect this kind of lateness, but Chopper? “I’m going to go look for him.”

“I could do it!”

“No.” Nami pointed at him. “If you go you’ll give us away. Stay here. Please, Luffy.”

“Fine.”

She paused. “You sure?”

“Yeah. I don’t really get it, but this is important, right?” He stared into the distance. “Then I have to stay here and let you guys do what you can do.”

“... right.”

* * *

 “Hey, Chopper.” Sanji found the reindeer in the party hall, running from a group of children who found his Brain Point cute, and were currently trying to ride on his Walk Point.

“Sanji!” He jumped up at the larger man, changing back into Brain Point. The kids scrambled to grab the stuffed animal-esque pirate as Sanji grabbed him.

“I’ve been looking all over for you, emergency food supply.” He grabbed him by the scruff, holding him too high for the kids to get to. “You’re wanted outside.”

“What? By who?” Chopper stopped squirming.

“Nami. She’ll fill you in.” He was about to let him down, when the kids jumped up again. “And you brats should move along.” The air around him practically lit on fire. “Quickly.”

Chopper ran off outside as quickly as possible.

* * *

 “And you’re saying you’ve known Nakaji since you started in the Marines?”

“Oh, yes.” Nadeshiko moved delicately to grab the cup next to her, sipping it gently. Really, “delicate” was a word that described much of what Nadeshiko did, though based on her apparent strength as a Marine, “elegant” might be a better descriptor. Or so Rocky thought to himself, jotting down notes from their interview. “He was an Ensign when I first joined, and part of his job was to assist in our training.”

Nadeshiko paused, tapping a finger to her chin. “We didn’t really speak until the other recruits and I were given an emergency mission, halfway through our training. It wasn’t anything major, at first. We were supposed to help escort a marine ship which had sustained too much damage to make it back itself.”

“Sounds dangerous.” Rocky leaned back.

“Oh, it wasn’t much.” She took another slow sip. “But as soon as the ship came into view, Nakaji ordered the ship to stop. It must have been rather late, as I remember it took much longer than usual for the crew to stop.” A pause. “I had recently become the leader of the trainees, so I asked Nakaji why we had stopped.”

Rocky nodded, taking notes slowly and methodically.

“He said he noticed something off. That the flag was down and no one was on deck.” She shrugged with one arm. “Or something to that effect. He suspected pirates and, as if it were a play, a pirate ship appeared from behind the marine vessel.”

“And what did you do?”

She shook her head. “No no, it was all Nakaji. I was about to take out my spear, but Nakaji stopped me. He was breathtaking in battle, even as an ensign.” She held a hand to her face, staring into space. (As much as she could when her eyes were always closed.)

Rocky sighed. He’d been working every angle he could think of to get Nadeshiko talking about herself, but nothing was sticking. But she would go on about Nakaji for hours, which was annoying given he already knew most of this stuff. Hell, he already knew this particular story, though not Nadeshiko’s involvement.

He scratched the side of his head. He only had to keep her busy; the story was fake, and the important thing was to keep her occupied on something that wasn’t the ballroom. So, that in mind.

“Can you tell me more about Nakaji?”

“Oh, certainly.”

* * *

 “And you’re certain you know what you’re doing?” Urara stood, or rather, sat guard, as Usopp messed with the electric box.

“Who do you think you’re asking!” Usopp boasted, puffing out his chest. “I am the great Usopp, the great and fearless pirate warrior! No task is greater than me!”

“So I didn’t actually hear you muttering that you’ve never done this kinda thing before?”

“You d-didn’t.” With a nod, he leaned further into the box, examining the wires carefully. He thought he got the gist of it, though, given what he knew about science and technology. But putting it into practice? When there was a chance of electrocuting himself? He was not a fan of that.

Urara shrugged. “Isn’t Zoro supposed to be out here with us?”

“I think Nami pulled him to distract Nakaji.”

“How?”

“Who knows. She hasn’t exactly had time to brief everyone.” Usopp leaned in more, trying to find a specific wire he was _sure_ must be here. Somewhere. If he was right. Which he probably wasn’t.

“That’s true.” She crossed her arms. “I guess I’m not entirely comfortable when I don’t have the whole picture.”

Usopp turned from his work, staring down the ladder at the journalist/photographer/model beneath him. “I know how you feel. But right now, all we can do is trust Nami and the others.”

“I know you’re right.” She didn’t look up. “I just don’t like it.”

* * *

 "At least I found you before I got too far…” Nami was holding the ladder from the roof, to make it easier for Chopper to climb up. He dutifully scrambled up, though he absently wondered if Heavy Point would be easier or harder for climbing.

“Yeah, but I still don’t understand why you need me on the roof.” Chopper’s ascent was also preoccupied with that particular topic. “I mean, I get us stealing the Devil Fruit. We have to help Dixie and Scott. But how is me getting on the roof going to help?”

“Oh yeah, Sanji didn’t have time to give you the plan.” Nami sighed as she helped him get fully onto the roof. Chopper sat cross-legged in front of Nami, awaiting her explanation, noting passively that Luffy had perched himself on the balcony below them.

“Well, it starts with Usopp and Urara at the electrical box on the Northwest corner of the building.” Nami pulled out a map of the Town Hall, rolling it out for Chopper. She pointed to the corner in question, on the opposite side of the building from the garden or the entrance. “Usopp will take out the main power of the building, which should be happening any minute now.”

“And Urara?”

“She’s keeping watch. Usopp will be too focused on the box to see if someone’s coming, and she’s trained to find places to spy from.” She moved her attention to another spot on the map, pointing to a spot in the middle of the roof. “Here is where the stage is, roughly. There’s a skylight above it, one of three in the ballroom.” She looked to Chopper. “That’s how we’re stealing the fruit.” She grinned.

“... we?” That wording worried him.

“Since getting on-stage from inside would get attention even during the blackout, we have to go from above.” She nodded, as if it were obvious. “And we’re the lightest members of the crew. If I use this rope,” she held it up to show it off, “to lower you down, you’re small enough that you can grab it and head up without problem.” As if an afterthought, “Or if you’d rather, you can use Heavy Point to lower me down, instead, though that comes with more risk.”

Chopper scratched his chin, thinking carefully. Suddenly, he turned to Nami. “Wait, but what about Nakaji and his marines? Won’t they be on red alert to guard the fruit?”

“That’s the other part of the plan.” Nami winked at Chopper, pointing to the two wings off the side of the main ballroom. “The subordinates they introduced on stage are likely the strongest on his team here, so they have to be out of the way. Which is why I have Rocky and Scott interviewing them, starting about now.”

“Is that going to work?”

“It should. Marines love to talk about themselves. Though I thought the older one might be the hardest to get talking, which is why I have Rocky on her.”

“Is Scott going to be—” Chopper stopped himself.

“He should. This is his job, after all.” She turned back to the map. “Sanji has been running signal duty, since he blends in with the partygoers better than the rest of us, but he and Zoro are working on distracting Nakaji.”

“Together?” Chopper’s voice tightened for the first time the whole plan.

Nami sighed. “Yes. Zoro is still the most recognizable member of the crew, and was a bounty hunter for long enough that him talking to a powerful marine wouldn’t raise that many eyebrows.” She bit her thumb. “Hopefully, anyway. Sanji, meanwhile, will be taking over part of the kitchen, at least long enough to make an hors d'oeuvre to give Nakaji food poisoning.”

“... really?”

“It should work.” Nami shrugged. “If he can make good food, he should know how to make bad food. Nakaji will be too distracted talking to the Pirate Hunter to notice the bus boy’s not one of the normal ones. When it kicks in, Sanji will give the signal to Usopp and Urara, which is when we will go.”

“And what’s Robin’s job?”

Nami bit her thumb again. “I haven’t been able to find her all night.” She shook her head. “If I did, the plan would be for her to pass the fruit to the roof with her powers, no rope required. But we don’t have the time before the party’s over to find her and bring her up to speed.” She shrugged. “Besides, I still don’t know if we can trust her.”

“Right.” He looked up at Nami again, thinking. “Are you sure this will work?”

Nami paused for a minute. She rolled up the map quickly, not looking Chopper in the eye. “Of course.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another update, so soon after the last one?! Yeah, it is.
> 
> I was considering just having the whole heist in one chapter, but this felt like a good stopping point, given it's almost as long as last chapter. Granted, the chapter is mostly vignettes on setting up the heist, but things should be rolling next chapter.
> 
> If you don't mind, I'd love if you left a comment and a kudos. It's really motivating to see what you guys think! I also have a [tumblr](https://bbtscott.tumblr.com) for the Sails and Stardust series, where I will accept questions and comments about the series - even in-universe question for Scott, if you want!


	10. Lost My Touch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scott has to distract the triplets while the Straw Hats go about stealing the Star Star Fruit, right from under Nakaji's nose. And amidst the ongoing plan, Robin has made a move of her own. But when Chopper is hanging by a rope over a crowded ballroom, the plan seems to be going almost too well - and this makes everyone very nervous.

Dixie panted as she hauled herself up the ladder. She would have been the first to say she was normally quite familiar with this kind of labor, but after having run all the way to Barney Farms and back, barefoot no less (because she wasn’t going to be running in heels, are you kidding?), she wasn’t really having a great time with it.

“I brought them…” She threw a bunch of objects onto the roof, the objects spilling into a loose pile as she finished her ascent.

Nami turned, having just finished tying a knot around Chopper. “Right on time!”

“I wasn’t sure if I got the swirls right…” Dixie said, catching her breath, “But the color should be spot-on.” Nami grabbed one of the objects — blue orbs, as big as the blueberry downstairs, or so Chopper assumed — and held it up towards the moon.

“Wait, those look like the Star Star Fruit!” Chopper blurted this out before covering his mouth.

“You’re right, they do.” Nami nodded to Dixie, smiling.

“Oh thank heavens.” Dixie put a hand on her heart, trying to get her heart to stop beating so loud. “I don’t know what I would do if at least one of these things didn’t.” She gestured to the rest lying on the ground.

“It looks like we have five that really do the job,” Nami split the fakes into two piles, placing the one in her hands into the “success” pile.

“What do we need these for?”

“Did I forget to give you this part of the plan, Chopper?” Nami raised a finger to her chin, thinking. “The idea is, if the fruit is just gone when the lights go back up, Nakaji won’t hesitate to blame us pirates for this, even if we’re guests of honor. But we put a fake in there, they won’t find out until someone tries to eat it — and we’ll be long gone by then.” She winked at him.

“Oh. That makes sense.”

“Y’all should count yourselves blessed I was able to find blue clay at all,” Dixie pointed at them for emphasis. “If not this would be a very busy night for all of us.”

“Thanks again for your help, Dixie.” Nami nodded to her. “You should get back to the party soon. The longer you’re gone, the more suspicious it is.”

“... right.” She turned to leave, and paused. Then, she turned back. “Thanks again. For all your help.”

Nami winked at her, giving her a backwards “okay” gesture. “Don’t mention it.”

“We have a problem.” Zoro was an unexpected surprise coming up the ladder, though he dutifully moved out of the way so Dixie could leave. Not that she was doing so immediately.

“Really?” She sighed. “Already?”

“It’s not him, if that’s what you’re thinking.” They both glanced at the other side of the building, seeing that Luffy was indeed sticking to the plan. Though he may have also fallen asleep, Nami couldn’t tell from this distance. “It’s that woman.”

“Robin?”

“Yeah. She got to Nakaji before I did, and handed me this.” He took a slip of paper out of one of his pockets, handing it over. It was folded over once, with “Nami” written on the outside in a fine, cursive script.

Nami took it, scanning it quickly. Then again, more slowly. The she sighed again. “So she knows about the plan.” She crossed her arms, but her expression was more resigned than upset. “She thought you needed to work on your acting skills, and her notoriety puts her in a similar position, strategically.”

“Is… is that good?” Dixie was concerned, though her voice surprised Nami and Zoro.

“It could go either way, really.” Nami adjusted her stance, scratching her chin in thought. “She’s our newest member of the crew, so we don’t know her very well yet. But, she’s right that she’s probably the best actor among us.”

“Will the shitty cook be okay?” Zoro crossed his arms.

“Let’s hope so.”

* * *

 “I have to be honest, Miss Devil Child,” Nakaji leaned in closer to her, though his glass of wine wasn’t far from his lips, “I have half a mind to turn you in now.”

“Oh?” Robin gave him only a side glance, the same level of indifference she’d been using all night. Nakaji was a man who liked to be noticed, she’d realized immediately. Half-notice him, and it makes him crazy. “And go back on your word with the mayor?”

“Oh, I would never,” He waved his hands of it, taking another sip. Despite his heavy drinking, he still didn’t have a hint of flush in his face. Robin was almost impressed with his tolerance. Almost. “Besides, how can I fault pirates who go out of their way to save people?”

“That’s a surprisingly open-minded view for a marine.”

“Is it?” He tried to follow Robin’s line of sight, though he didn’t notice anything in that direction. She smiled to herself. “I guess I’m fine with that. As long as you don’t tell my superiors.”

“I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.” She took a sip of her drink, looking in the opposite direction of him but keeping an eye on him. And on the waiter who had just walked by, a familiar blond.

“Shrimp?” Sanji leaned in towards Nakaji, smiling, though his eyes were pointed at Robin. “I can also refill your glasses, if you’d like.” Again, he stared at Robin as he said this.

“Certainly,” Nakaji grabbed one of the entrees — a small pastry cup, filled with some sort of cream, greens, and a shrimp — without a second thought. “Is there some other reason a pirate like yourself is on this island?”

Robin handed her now-empty glass to Sanji, waving him away. She was sure if he stayed longer, he’d give them both away somehow. But she had to admit, his puppy tendencies were useful.  “We certainly don’t have any plans here on the island, if that’s what you mean.” She turned to him, for the first time in the conversation. “Though I must say, I am rather curious about how you got that fruit.” She pointed to the display case. Nakaji gave it a brief glance. “They said the pirates were after it when they raided the island, but it sounded like there might be more to it than that.”

“Very perceptive of you.” Nakaji smiled to himself, but shook his head. “Unfortunately, I can’t say for certain. You could say it was just luck.” He emphasized the word luck, leaning closer towards her. She turned away again.

“So that was it?” She grabbed the drink from Sanji as he floated back, shooing him away. Nakaji was disappointed for a moment before his expression changed.

“I’m sorry, but I must excuse myself.”

* * *

 “Oh Urara-chan!”

“Here he comes.” Usopp sighed, standing up from his seat at the bottom of the ladder.

“Keep your voice down!” Urara projected her whisper, though it did little to hide her annoyance. All this effort and this idiot could bring it all down with his need to romance every woman he lays eyes on.

“Of course,” His voice was a whisper now, but he entered with a flourish, grabbing her hand dramatically and making a move to kiss it. She smacked him on the head with the but of one of her pistols.

“So do I start the blackout now or…?” Usopp’s hand and knife hovered over the yellow wire, the one he and Urara decided must be the best choice for blacking out the building.

“Oh, right.” Sanji straightened out his hair and tie, “Nakaji just excused himself for the bathroom.”

The second he said it, Usopp pulled the wire.

* * *

 “Now!” Nami practically punched Zoro, but her voice was almost silent. Zoro had been roped into, well, handling the roof end of Chopper’s rope. Regardless of the annoyance, Nami had been right that he could pull Chopper up faster, and every second counts in something this dangerous.

Zoro opened the sky light, Nami grabbing it from the other end so it didn’t make any noise when it fell against the roof. Chopper jumped in, Zoro scrambling to grab the rope. With a breath of relief from him and Nami, he started to lower Chopper.

Chopper gripped the fake fruit in his hands, telling himself to be brave. This was so different than anything else he’d ever done, and that made it feel even more dangerous. But he had to help out Scott, and Rocky and Urara, and Dixie, so he gripped the fruit tighter. This was his job. He could do this.

He was glad, briefly, that his hybrid form had the best eyesight of the three. Reindeer night vision plus human color vision made it easy to see the square of pillow and fruit he was supposed to grab.

“How far do I drop him?” Zoro’s voice was less of a whisper than Nami would have liked.

“To the knot in the rope.”

“Are you sure that’s far enough?”

“Chopper used a rumble ball to help measure the drop,” Nami carefully finished leaning the glass casing onto the roof. “So it should be.”

* * *

 Shit.

I’d forgotten about how the girls would react to the power outage.

_Shit_.

Shiki screamed so loud I was afraid I lost my hearing for a minute. Which was a surprise, given she hadn’t struck me as the most easily scared of the three.

“The door’s over here.” I hadn’t seen any movement from the group, but Kiki’s monotone meant she must have been moving from the second the blackout started.

“Out we go!” Miki’s voice sailed past me, and I scrambled to grab my things.

“Maybe we should wait here for—”

“It’s easier to see outside,” Kiki stopped my reasoning dead, as she shuffled me out the door. “And if there’s an announcement of cancellation, we need to be with the whole party.”

I hated how much sense she made. But provided none of them had really good night vision, there should still be time for the plan to work. I was hit with a sense that I should have “set up” a room on the far end of the wing, or somehow delayed the progression back to the party by more than this.

“Of course.” I wavered for a minute, and then, “Did any of you see where I left my notebook?”

* * *

 “Right this way,” Rocky grabbed Nadeshiko’s hand, carefully guiding her out of the room.

“How chivalrous.”

“But of course,” He smiled though he was sure she couldn’t see it. “Hopefully this blackout ends soon so we can finish our interview.”

“And I was just getting to the exciting part,” Nadeshiko made as if to take her hand back from Rocky, but stopped. “Oh but, which way were we from the party hall?”

Rocky smiled wider. “Right this way, I think.” And he lead her the other way.

* * *

 “Everyone please calm down,” Mayor Marron’s voice was softer than he’d like, and the whole party hall could hear the way his voice wavered. He desperately needed another drink to calm his own nerves. “I’m sure it’s just a broken fuse or an animal or something — we’ve called the electricians and the party will be back on before you know it.”

Urara and Usopp had blended back into the crowd, carefully judging how far into the hall they should be to not seem suspicious. They landed somewhere they felt was towards the middle, Urara having grabbed two champagne glasses on here way there so they looked more natural.

It helped that the crowd was nervously whispering the whole time, many uneasy with the whole situation, and how this being a new moon the skylights didn’t help at all with the lighting. That comment made Urara smile, but it just made Usopp more nervous.

“They aren’t really watching the skylights, are they?” He whispered.

To both of their surprise, the answer he received wasn’t from Urara but from Robin. “Not that one, no,” She sounded easy and sure, though she always sounded like that. “It’s hard to get an angle on that one without being on stage.”

“Anyway, did you hear about the mayor?” Urara was careful to make her whisper not worried but conspiratorial. Robin matched her.

“No, has there been news?”

Usopp stood in uneasy silence while the two attempted to sound like excited party-goers, and not like pirates.

* * *

 “Can you let him down any faster?” Nami paced the roof, but her voice didn’t raise any louder than absolutely necessary. If pressed, she’d probably say her nerves were based mostly on the size of the payoff; devil fruits are priceless even at the worst of times. If pressed further, she might say they were mostly because she didn’t have any signpost for how well the crew would work as agents of subterfuge.

“I could, but I don’t want to scare Chopper,” Zoro’s voice was even but louder than Nami was entirely comfortable with. She continued pacing.

* * *

 Chopper felt himself nearing arm’s reach of the fruit, and was also growing increasingly aware of how close he was to the Mayor, who was still on stage and hadn’t moved since the lights went out. Not that there’d been much time to, but to Chopper it felt like an eternity.

He took a deep breath, as quietly as he could, trying desperately to stop his body from shaking, not that it seemed to be working. He didn’t want to let Nami down, but also this was far scarier than anything he’d ever done. This whole plan was riding on him.

He carefully took the glass case — he’d almost forgotten it was there, though it was shorter than he expected — and moved his hoof towards the fruit. He glanced at the mayor quickly, but as he was still frantically waving to the partygoers, Chopper grabbed the fruit. In one swift motion, he placed the fake fruit on the pillow, replaced the cover, and tugged on the rope.

* * *

 I was on the wall of the ballroom, tapping my foot in an attempt to let go of my nervous energy. I had been pacing, but I bumped into someone and decided it was a bad idea to do right now. I was trying to resist biting my thumbnail, but I was full of nervous energy now that my one job was basically over.

For their part, the girls didn’t seem to have any idea what was going on. They helped me find my journal by having me walk backwards — though really I just lied about the whole situation — and then we walked back to the ballroom.

I was mostly worried because somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew that this could be the difference between success and failure. I don’t know how I could live with myself if I was the reason we failed.

“Hey, where did Kiki go?” Miki and Shiki hadn’t wandered far from me, but I guess their sister was a different story.

“I think she said she was gonna find Nakaji.”

“Oh. Good idea.”

* * *

 “Up we go,” Zoro started pulling the rope, doing so with more vigor than he let Chopper down.

“I thought you didn’t want to scare him,” Nami projected a whisper at him.

“That was before he made the swap.” He grunted as he made a particularly large heave.

Nami just shook her head.

“Pirates.” The voice was a new one, deadpan but cutting through the quiet, and when Nami turned, she was face to face with a cat-woman.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little longer than most of my chapters, though it's also a bit choppier than usual. Guess that's what happens when the plot is in several places all at once. Anyway, this marks the beginning of the transition from the heist to the action/fight scenes which everyone knew was going to happen eventually. I'm curious to know what everyone thinks the match-ups will be!
> 
> Comments are my lifeblood, so if you can, I'd love it if you left one. There's also a [tumblr](https://bbtscott.tumblr.com) for the Sails and Stardust series if you wanna check it out; it's pretty bare right now, but who knows what will end up there.


	11. Lost Ground

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The heist has made a turn for the worst, meaning Nami needs to come up with a plan B. But first, they have to get somewhere where they can start plan B, without getting cut to pieces by this mysterious cat-woman.

The lights came back suddenly, and I was surprised by that for some reason. I guess I was just on edge. It didn’t help that half the room was applauding the return of electricity. I gave a half-hearted whoop as I looked towards the stage. There was a fruit in the pedestal — Nami’s fake? — and I wasn’t immediately struck by a wayward floating reindeer, so things must be going according to plan. But the pit in my stomach wasn’t going away.

I hoped it would by the time we regrouped.

I turned to Miki and Shiki, who were still clapping about the lights. I walked closer to them, only now noting the distance. “We can finish the interview if you want,” I got out my notebook, but wasn’t really looking at it, “Or we can wait for Kiki? Question mark?”

“We probably should…” Miki absently played with her hair, not super interested either way.

“But honestly,” I flipped through the notebook, only half-reading, “I think I have enough to go on with this. You guys gave me a lot to work with.” I was only half-lying; there actually was some stuff I could pull for an article, if we wrote one. Though truth be told, I was only now realizing we would actually have to write an article to finish this cover story.

“Really?” Shiki sounded somewhere between disappointed and happy, which is an odd mix to have.

“Yeah,” I scratched the back of my head, “I really learned a lot.”

“Then I guess we can go back to the party then!” Miki wasted no time in grabbing Shiki and running off. I breathed a sigh of relief, pocketing my notepad. Then, I scanned the hall.

Usopp, Urara, and Robin were standing in a small cluster, with Usopp looking nervous and out of place. Which, to be entirely fair, wasn’t that odd for him. Having done my job to the best of my ability, I walked towards them.

“So how are the hors d'oeuvres?” I started when I got in earshot, trying desperately not to sound like I was hiding something. “I haven’t had a chance to try any.”

“They’re fine,” Robin gave a light, short laugh, “As long as you avoid the shrimp.”

“Right.”

“How did the interview go?” Urara leaned in towards me, having converted completely from conspirator to overly friendly boss. “Good? Did you get the girls’ headshots?”

“I got a group shot of them when we started.” I pulled the camera and photo out of my pocket, handing them over. “I can’t imagine we’ll need anything but the shot of Nakaji presenting the fruit, though.” I vaguely remembered seeing other reporters at the party snapping pictures as Nakaji was on stage, but to be honest I was a bit busy being consumed with rage to pay much attention.

“Perfect,” She took a look at the photo — long enough I was worried she really wanted to use it in a story — before handing them back. “I don’t have pockets or a purse, though, so these are yours tonight.”

“Right.” Really, I need to find another word.

“And they don’t suspect a thing?” Usopp’s voice was a half-whisper as he tried to balance between being heard above the party and not being heard by anyone else from the party.

“Not that I could tell, no.” I didn’t really bother matching his tone. People at these kinds of parties only eavesdropped on important people. “TBut I ended up losing Kiki during the blackout.”

“You what?!” I winced, even though his voice was even more of a whisper. Robin looked me over appraisingly.

“I don’t know how she could have seen anything.” I stepped back instinctively. “I think she was going to check in with Nakaji? Or something? Question mark?” I was really getting some mileage out of that phrase today.

“Isn’t it your job to know?” Despite the situation, Robin’s voice was less accusatory and more amused. I gave her a frown but otherwise didn’t respond.

“We have a problem!” I heard Chopper’s voice above the crowd, though I couldn’t tell if it was the tone, the volume, or the pitch of his voice that carried it. I turned, and he was in walk point, which itself worried me. He had been in Brain Point all night, mostly. Unfortunately, this had been noticed by the party goers around us, as well.

I grabbed him as soon as he was in range, turning to the crowd quickly. “He must have had the shrimp.” I hoped Robin didn’t mind me borrowing her ad-lib. “Y’know how sensitive Reindeer stomachs can be.” Placing a hand over Chopper’s mouth, I inched towards the door, dragging Chopper’s reindeer form with me, and awkwardly stepped out.

I dropped my hand the second we were far enough from the door.

“We have a problem!” He felt the need to repeat himself as I wiped my hand on my pants. Tuxedo or not, I couldn’t keep reindeer spit on my hand all night.

“What kind of problem?” I resisted the urge to squat down to his level.

“We’ve been discovered!” At that moment, I heard the sound of metal against metal coming from the roof.

“No kidding.” Robin responded, as I noticed now that she’d followed us. “I take it Zoro is taking on our missing triplet? Or perhaps the one in the kimono?”

“I don’t know!” Chopper was crying. “Nami just told me to take these and run!” Chopper turned into Braint Point — a seamless transformation that still unnerved me every time I saw it — and pulled out a bag from his back. I untied it, revealing a pile of five fist-sized blueberries, each covered in a variety of swirls.

“Which one’s the real one?”

* * *

 The cat-woman's claws clashed with Wado Ichimonji again, her breathing easy and measured. With little interest in the thought, Zoro realized he probably should recognize this girl, but he couldn’t figure out why. “I will be bringing you in for questioning.” Her eyes narrowed at Nami, who had only just recovered from the kick she’d be given earlier. “Both of you.”

“Who are you?” Zoro’s voice was also even, almost uninterested, as the two jumped back from the clash.

“I am Ensign Kiki, operating under the authority of Commander Nadeshiko and Captain Nakaji.” She sounded almost robotic, which belied her predatory position. Zoro looked her over, trying to find a weakness. Besides her slit eyes, she had large masses of hair on her arms and legs, leading to her paw-hands, which were about as large as her head. Her hair was wild and seemed to form almost a mane around to under her neck, with a pair of cat ears high on her head.

Nami saw Chopper in the distance, as he and Scott took off towards the BBT. She nodded, sure she was out of time to wait for everyone else.

“We’d love to stay and chat,” She arranged the clima-tact so the cool end faced up, slashing it towards the ground. “But we have to leave.”

“You won’t get away.” She hissed, her first show of emotion, pouncing on them.

“Mirage tempo!”

Kiki suddenly found herself on the bare roof, the illusion broken. She sighed, her form shifting back to that of a human. She took out a small transponder snail, holding it close to her mouth. “Captain Nakaji, we have a problem.”

* * *

 When we reached the BBT, I found myself panting heavily. I hated this suit, and it certainly was not created for running. Chopper seemed fine, instead waiting by the door.

It didn’t take long for Robin to reach us, and it took a little longer for Sanji and Usopp. Evidently, Usopp had been sent back to grab him, though all of us were still completely out of the loop.

It wasn’t until Nami arrived, dragging Luffy and followed by Zoro, that we could be given a full briefing.

“So we got caught?” Sanji wasted no time, lighting a cigarette.

“And by one of the triplets.” My heart sank.

“But how? I had them—”

“She can turn into a cat.” Nami stopped me. “We didn’t predict any of the marines having night vision.” I don’t think I felt as good about it as she wanted.

“So is this the part where I get to punch that marine dude?” Luffy picked his ear, completely glossing over the fact that we were in deep illegal shit. I wondered if it was on purpose, or if he really didn’t care. I’d believe either, at this point.

“Not yet.” Nami smacked him on the back of the head. “We can still make it out of here with the fruits if we’re careful.”

“If.” I punctuated the word, crossing my arms.

“I assume you have a plan?” Zoro leaned against the wall, a casualness I didn’t know whether to admire or question heavily.

“Please tell us you have a plan!” Usopp and Chopper were on the same page, grabbing Nami’s legs and pleading.

“Of course I do.” She took Chopper’s bag, the one with the fake fruits, and unrolled it for everyone to see.

“That’s a lot of fruit.” At that moment, Rocky walked in, followed by Urara. She must have gone back for him. “I assume we’ll need it?”

“Just in time for the party.” I gestured to them to come in closer.

“We have four fake fruits and one real one.” Nami carefully arranged the fruits in front of us. “Any second now, the marines will start searching the streets for us, and they’ll lock the port down even sooner. Especially if we move in a big group.” She looked up at us, and most of us nodded. “So we’ll move in groups of two carrying the fruits. Each group will have a designated location, and one will take the ship. Then your job is to get to the ship with as few confrontations as possible.”

“Right.”

“Don’t give me that.” Nami raised a fist at me. “Do you have a better plan?”

“No.” I looked away. “I’m just… worried. If Nakaji tried to kill me before…” I let the thought trail off. There was a moment of silence.

“So what are the groups?” Robin leaned in, grabbing one of the fruits — a fake, I think.

“I call Nami-sw—”

“Sanji will be going with Chopper.” Nami stuck her hand out to prevent Sanji from floating any closer to her. “You two are the fastest, so you can be stationed the furthest from here.” Chopper nodded, grabbing a blueberry from the center, while Sanji deflated slightly. “The other groups will depend on how you three want to be involved.” She looked at me, then at Urara and Rocky.

“We got you into this mess,” Rocky looked at me, and then at the crew, “It’s only fair we get ou out of this mess.”

“I agree.” Urara was unusually serious. “And…” She looked at me. “And if it’s not too much to ask.”

I widened my eyes at the thought, and looked away. “If it comes to that.” I interrupted, not wanting her to ask for me. “If I have to get away from the island, will you—”

“Just tell us where to drop you off.” Zoro was matter-of-fact. I pressed my lips together, deciding not to finish the question I was really going to ask.

“If it comes to that, of course.”

“Anyway,” Nami cut the tension best she could, “Urara, you’ll be paired with Zoro.” She handed her a blueberry, “You know this island best, and Zoro would get lost otherwise.”

I could practically see a vein popping from his head. “I would not!” He balled a hand into a fist.

Nami didn’t acknowledge him. “Robin, you and Rocky will go together. You two can cause the most non-violent chaos.” She smirked, amused, tossing the blueberry in her hands to Rocky. He caught it haphazardly, it flying between his hands for a second.

“Usopp and I will be headed for the ship,” Nami tossed the fruit to Usopp, who caught it with slightly more grace. Slightly. “We’re the best equipped to get it started.”

“You can count on me!” He responded, puffing out his chest.

“And finally, because Scott’s so worried about Nakaji, he’ll be going with Luffy.” I caught the berry she tossed me, it feeling cool in my hands. I scowled at the reasons, but didn’t protest. Luffy slung an arm over me.

We started moving as Nami detailed our posts and, for some reason, I actually did feel better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter than last chapter, but this chapter is super important for setting up how the fights are going to go. Meaning they start next time! Whoo!
> 
> I'm actually really excited to show off all the villains' fighting styles, though you've just seen Kiki's and I've mentioned Nadeshiko's naginata in previous chapters. Which leaves Miki, Shiki, and of course Nakaji himself. If you have guesses, I'd love to hear them!
> 
> On a trivia thing: I use the "Question mark?" thing a couple times in this chapter, a verbal construction carried from chapter 2. It's one I use in real life though I'm not the only one who does. The story is in English, but I have been thinking about how that would back-translate into Japanese, the original language of One Piece. One option would be to have the original statements be ones that used short form, before adding a floating "Desu ka?" at the end. The alternative would be to use a Japanese word for "question mark" in the same place, to make it more direct; for the curious, "gimonfu" and "hatena mark" would both work. 
> 
> As always, please comment, I read every one and love them all. I also have a [tumblr](https://bbtscott.tumblr.com) for these Scott-centric fics, which is a place to go if you're a fan of these!


	12. Lost My Bearings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Straw Hats and their BBT allies are in position, but Nakaji and his crew aren't just going to let them run away. When his terrible triplets and right-hand woman attack the crew, the Straw Hats are left to fend for themselves amid the seemingly-vacant town.

Nami and Usopp had been the last pair to leave the office, but having reached the dock with no major problems was making Usopp very nervous.

“You know, in a perfect world we wouldn’t be pulling a heist while I’m still in heels.” Nami was holding the offending footwear, having been shed for her first daring escape at the party. She swung them absently in her hand, annoyed that she’d probably end up ruining the dress by the end of the night.

“In a perfect world we wouldn’t have to pull a heist at all.” Usopp was, however, a bit busy scoping out the Going Merry with his goggles. They had a long night ahead of them, he was sure.

“Yeah, yeah.” Nami walked past him.

“Yoo-hoo!” The pair jerked their heads towards the new voice. Sitting on top of one of the nearby ships was a young girl with long blond hair and a Marine uniform — one of Nakaji’s crew, they realized. Nami also couldn’t help from noticing her thick red lipstick, which otherwise clashed with her green theme coloring.

“You?!” Usopp started panicking.

“So you finally showed up.” Nami crossed her arms, nonplussed.

“I like to be fashionably late.” She winked at them, crossing one leg over the other. “I guess I don’t have to tell you I can’t let you on the boat.”

Nami drew her weapon. “You don’t.”

“And the fruit?” She gestured towards Nami’s purse, which she tucked behind her. “Then why don’t we get started, cuties?” She blew them a kiss, and that was when they realized they should dodge it.

* * *

 Robin crossed her legs, reading from a book on the back of Rocky’s motorcycle while the guitarist paced back and forth.

“It’s almost like you want to get in a fight.” Robin glanced at him from her book, but he didn’t respond right away. She smiled to herself. “Then again, that describes most of my own crew.”

“I’m just… tense, you know?” He made for his pocket, grabbing a lighter, then paused over the other one. After a moment, he sighed, putting the lighter back. “I picked the wrong time to quit smoking.”

“Didn’t you hear that’s bad for your health?”

“You sure kept us waiting.” Robin had a sly smile as she shut her book and turned to the new voice. Standing above them on a rooftop was a tall, fit figure, with red hair and a side-tail. Shiki, Robin thought she’d heard at the party.

“I was held up.” She shrugged, leaning further into the hammer standing next to her. “But more importantly, do you have the fruit? I’m kind of in a hurry here.

Robin giggled, pulling the fruit out from a compartment in the motorcycle. “This one?”

“Bingo.” Shiki smiled savagely, picking up the hammer she’d been leaning against.

* * *

 I huffed, desperate to reclaim my breath after chasing after Luffy. He’d already gotten into position by the time I’d caught up, but thankfully I hadn’t run into any Marines on the way here. Especially since I had the fruit and not him.

“Luffy.” My breath was slowly catching up, though he hadn’t really been paying attention. (He seemed to be staring into a butcher shop just near our position.) He turned, though, when he heard me. I sat up. “I’ve been meaning to ask something.”

“Okay.” He turned around, picking his ear as if this wasn’t something you say only when you have a bombshell to drop. I couldn’t tell if this was to make me feel better about it, or because he genuinely couldn’t read the situation.

“I don’t think I can make it out of here without...” I searched for the right words. “Becoming a criminal. To the Marines, at least. Not since Nakaji knows I’m with you.”

“And?” I guess it had been the latter.

“I can’t stay here if that happens. At least, not permanently.” I looked to the ground. “And you don’t have to say yes — you can just help me get away from here if that’s easier — or I can just have Urara and Rocky pull some strings, if they can, anyway.” I shook my head. “But…”

Luffy stared at me, not quite sure what I was getting at. I didn’t blame him. I just had to pull off the band-aid.

“Let me join the Strawhat Pirates.” Just getting it out loud felt like a breath of fresh air.

I knew there was a risk to it, sure, and maybe I’d be able to talk myself out of the criminal thing if I stayed here. But the Strawhats had been so nice to me, and at the very least I’d be with them if Nakaji came back. And on some level, I had to admit that I was attracted to just running away from all my mundane problems. Even if the sea had nearly starved me not even a couple days ago, I’d have to admit I was even more scared of going home after this internship.

“Okay.”

“What?”

“It’s decided.” Luffy stomped over to me, grinning ear to ear and holding a hand out to me. “Starting today, you are a member of my crew.” I took his hand, and we shook.

* * *

 Zoro was lost.

Though not a surprise given the warning, Urara was still annoyed that he’d managed to wander off in the second or so she’d looked away. Even worse, he’d been carrying the blueberry, since he actually had pockets.

“This is why I don’t babysit.” She turned another corner, still further from their intended position, hoping she’d run into the green-haired swordsman. Given his three swords and bright green hair, she thought he’d be easier to spot than this.

“My, my.” She heard from above her, and on reflex she unholstered her guns. Standing on a rooftop, holding her face as if nothing was wrong, was a woman in a bright red kimono. Urara fired a warning shot. In a single motion, Nadeshiko deflected it, her Naginata shining brightly in the moonlight. She landed next to Urara, the blade dangerously close to her neck. “Looking for someone?”

“No.” Urara cursed her slow draw.

“Ah, you don’t have the fruit, do you?” Nadeshiko leaned in, and Urara could smell her sickly floral perfume. She stifled a gag. “It’s with the swordsman, then.” Urara shot her a look,  but didn’t move. “You don’t have to pretend. It’s not like Nakaji doesn’t know where every single one of you is.” She giggled, her blade not moving an inch. “You’re easier to take down in small groups than all at once, after all. Divide and conquer.”

Urara didn’t move, but felt her knees shake ever so slightly.

“Then why don’t we get the attention of your directionally-challenged friend?”

Urara’s scream pierced through the silent town.

* * *

 Sanji leaned against the alley wall he and Chopper were stationed in. It was an awkward spot, wedged between two buildings with only a narrow pathway to see the sea below, but it was the only place on this part of the island to get to the coastline. He took a deep drag of his cigarette.

“So we just gotta wait?” Chopper stared down the long drop, worried about when he and Sanji were going to be forced to make a jump for the boat.

“Seems like it.” Sanji blew a ring of smoke, clearly disinterested in discussing their situation further.

“You.”

Sanji turned his head, raising his visible eyebrow only slightly at the new voice. “So you finally showed up.” Chopper turned, as well, though it took considerably more effort for his Walk Point form.

“The fruit?” Kiki wasted no effort, pointing at them but standing straight and tall. Chopper realized he might not have noticed her if she hadn’t revealed herself — she had a natural stealth to her that defied reason, given she had changed back into her brightly colored Marine uniform.

“Right here,” Sanji held it in his palm, tossing it up and down, before dropping it into his inner coat pocket.

“What are you—?” Chopper didn’t even get the sentence out by the time Kiki flew into Sanji with a kick. The two deadlocked, but only for a second.

Kiki followed up with a right hook, sending Sanji flying into the building next door. The dust cleared itself as she launched inside, and Chopper ran after them as fast as he could.

“You had an opening.” Kiki’s tone was accusatory, as they were in another deadlock. “Or can you not hit girls?”

“Guilty as charged.” He smiled at her, and she scowled.

“This is bad…” Chopper stood back, only able to watch as Sanji flew into the next wall.

* * *

 Nami flew to the side, clinging to the clima-tact pieces in her hand. Usopp and gone the other way. The attack must have been fast, she reasoned, as she couldn’t get a great look at it. But it must have been a devil fruit.

“Like it?” Miki finally jumped down from her perch as the two recovered from her attack. “My power comes from the Kiss Kiss Fruit.” She kissed her hand, and as she did a bubble of energy came from her lips and started to hover over her hand.

Nami grit her teeth, reconnecting the pieces of her staff. She needed a plan, and fast. “So that’s it? You can attack with your kisses?” It was either cute or super creepy, she decided.

“I can do more than attack.” She hovered the energy in her hand, and Nami could see it was shaped like a pair of lips. She would have guessed a heart, but that was the other natural shape. “But you’ll have to survive that long.” With a wicked grin, she blew the heart at Nami. Usopp took out his slingshot, but received a shot of his own, forcing him to jump behind a concrete partition.

Nami gripped the cooling section of her staff, spinning it as she ran across towards Usopp. This would be the first time using the fog function of the clima-tact, she realized as she watched the cool balls collect into a larger  ball. She dove as another set of red energy lips came at her.

“I hope you have a plan, because I’m fresh out.” Usopp said, hands over his head. Nami shoved her purse at him.

“Of course I have a plan.”

* * *

 Rocky flew at her again, his guitar already flying in front of him, but Shiki just knocked him aside again with her hammer. “How many times do I have to teach you?” Shiki asked absently, still advancing towards Robin.

Robin smiled, still unmoved from her position on the motorcycle. “So am I your intended opponent, then?”

“Who else but the Devil Child herself.” She pointed the hammer at her. “When we take you in, I’ll get your bounty all to myself.”

“And what will you do with the money?” If Robin were being honest, she was more amused than worried. She had been through worse than this, and certainly wasn’t afraid of a child with a hammer. But it was more fun than she’d had working for Baroque Works, she’d admit.

“Does it matter?” Shiki leaned in towards her, surprised at the question. “You won’t be around to see it!” Then she leapt at her.

“Seis Fleur!” Shiki found herself stopped by two chains of arms holding her legs and preventing her from following through on her trajectory.

“Just as expected from the Devil Child.” Without hesitation, Shiki turned, at least as well as she could, and struck at the arms holding her. On reflex, Robin released them, sending them away in a swirl of petals. She came at Robin again, and Robin dutifully grabbed her by the arms this time, reeling her back to her previous position.

“Now let’s see how long you can keep that up!”

* * *

 Nami ran by again, spinning more cool balls into the mass, but she wasn’t assaulted by any laser lips. Miki was, instead, staring into her compact mirror, coating her upper lip in a fresh layer of lipstick. Nami didn’t waste time noticing her bottom lip was free of lipstick — part of her devil fruit power?

She dove behind another partition before she could get shot at.

“What are you even doing? Making it a little chilly?” Miki shifted in her spot, clearly comfortable to snipe at them all night from her position. “Cold or not, I can still shoot your asses from my nice, cozy spot up here.”

Usopp fumbled with his slingshot, looking over the partition to take a shot at their attacker. “Lead star!”

Before he could actually shoot, a pair of green energy lips were hurtling towards him. He dodged again, as they launched right through the partition and even through the ground behind it. “Didn’t I tell you?” She held up the lipstick, Usopp only noticing now it was green instead of her former red. “When I wear different colors, my attacks work differently.”

“Talk about the power of accessorizing…” Nami mumbled to herself.

* * *

 “Sanji you have to fight back!” Chopper was yelling at him as he continued to get smacked. Kiki’s expression was neutral the whole time, bored even.

“Never…” He tried to dodge her latest kick, but fell for a feint, the foot landing directly on his face. His body arced up and across the bar they were in, several doors down from their starting alley, landing in the wine rack at the other end. He spat out blood. “I’ll never hurt a lady.”

“Is that it?” Kiki stooped down over his body, reaching towards his pocket. Chopper ran in, turning into heavy  point to stop her.

“Don’t touch her!” Sanji gained a surge of energy from nowhere, spinning up to his feet and away from the mess of broken wood and glass. “I’ll never hurt a lady.” He spat another puff of blood, falling to his knees.

“How chivalrous.” She approached again, and Chopper ran to stop her.

“What did I just say?!” Sanji flew at Chopper, kicking him in the face. They collided with the wall, knocking yet another one down. Chopper knew he should be worried about that, but that could come after they dealt with this blue lady.

“We can’t just let Nakaji win!” He tried to stand after Sanji’s attack, but he knew he was part of the Monster Trio for a reason. Sanji stood over him, staring down their opponent. It was only as he walked towards her that Chopper realized he now had the blueberry in his pocket. Nodding, he turned into Walk Point, and started to run away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... It's been a while, huh. Stuff happened, I'm out of college now, etc. And this chapter was a hard one for me, since I'm not the most confident in my action writing. But I think it's turned out well enough, all things considered!
> 
> Some trivia! Originally, Miki and Kiki were going to be twins with the same powers they have now and I had another fight planned for Robin. But that was in a much earlier draft of the story, when I hadn't even settled on Scott's inevitable fighting style. (It may have even been a draft where it was set before the Alabasta arc - if I'm honest, I don't super remember.) Shiki was added to the current plan because having triplets where two were identical and one was very different visually felt very Oda-esque, though I did it much more flatteringly than he probably would.
> 
> Thanks for all the wonderful comments while I haven't updated! I'm so glad so many of you like this self-indulgent story of mine. I'll hopefully update again in a more timely manner than this last time.


	13. Lost Face

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nami and Usopp are facing down the powerful Marine, Private Miki. Can they face off against her Kiss Kiss Fruit, or be swept away by her power?

Nami muttered to herself, absently twirling the cool ball stick.

“Are you sure that’s gonna work, Nami?” Usopp coward behind one of the few cement barriers still standing, the green laser lips having zapped through three others.

“Don’t wanna give me a kiss?” Miki winked at Usopp and he peaked over the cover, and he ducked back down. He shot Nami a look, as she was thinking.

“Y’know, you really should spend a little more for the long-lasting  brands.” Nami walked out of cover, smirking. Usopp almost made a leap for her, but decided against it. “At the very least that should last longer than three shots.”

“Aww, I didn’t think you noticed!” Miki shut her compact, purple already coating her lips. “But I only need three shots at a time to take you out.”

“That so?” Nami smiled, connecting the Clima-tact heat-side up. “Then you shouldn’t have a problem when the fog rolls in.” With a twirl, she released a salvo of heat balls into the mass of cool air between them. Within moments, the moisture in the air thickened, creating an impenetrable fog.

“What?” Miki frowned, leaning forward. “Now  _ that’s _ no fun.” She leaned back again, only momentarily perturbed. “At least I have a good color for this.” She kissed into her hand again, the tell-tale energy lips forming above her hand. She blew it towards the growing cloud of fog.

Though Nami thought she’d got a safe spot, she realized quickly that the lips were not just going towards the fog — it was splitting into a cloud of mini-lips. They started to rip through the fog cloud, giving Nami just enough time to settle behind a light pole. 

“How long can you keep this up?” Miki called into the fog. “It’s not like I have plans or anything, but if you’re not gonna fight back this isn’t going to be any fun.” She blew another kiss, and then another, the two lips separating at almost the same time.

Nami lowered herself to the ground, making herself a smaller target as purple lips pelted the ground around her, making smoking craters in the stone pavement. Nami gulped.

“Was that it?” Miki leaned to the side, lifting her legs up to lie on her side. “Just a bunch of fog?” She flipped her hair back, taking out her compact and a tube of bright blue lipstick. “I expected better than that from the Straw Hat Pirates, though I guess only two of you have a bounty for a reason.”

“I wouldn’t underestimate me if I were you.” Nami crept around the side, out of the fog and towards the ship. “Besides, my current forecast is calling for more than a little fog.” She started spinning her heat and cool balls again, letting them rise up higher than the previous grouping.

“Nami I hope you have a plan!” Usopp took the momentary lapse in energy-lips to take aim at Miki, though it was hard through all the fog. “Fire Star!” He released the ball towards her, smiling.

She blew another kiss towards the ball, and they collided. But instead of exploding, the heart kept going, right towards Usopp. He dove out of the way. “Nami!” It was only when he turned back that he saw what had really happened: his Fire Star shot and its trail to the ground was completely frozen, a pillar of ice.

“I don’t normally like things cold, but I’ll make an exception for you.” She winked at Usopp, and he dove back into the fog.

“And now for today’s forecast!” Nami yelled, having finally managed to pull herself onto a different ship. Miki stood abruptly, facing her.

“Oh, someone wanted to come out and play?” Miki walked towards her, readying a blue energy-kiss.

“A layer of clouds has just rolled in!” Nami pointed up, at the clouds she had been stirring. “And with the moisture in the air and the incoming cold front, we’re looking at a sudden chance of snow.”

“Snow? On a Summer island?” Miki turned to laugh, as Nami kept twirling her cold ball staff. “Besides, what is that supposed to do?”

Nami just smiled, walking casually towards her. “Viewers are advised to pack an extra case of chapstick, just in case.” Miki’s eyes suddenly widened.

“What?!” As she yelled, a snowflake dropped from the cloud above her. With new ferocity, she launched her kiss at Nami.

“Mirage Tempo!” She smiled wider, the heart breaking through her illusion with ease. Then, from behind Miki, she yelled again. “Blizzard Tempo!” She launched a final cold ball into the sky, the chill becoming too much and the spotty snow falling down in a flurry, wind whipping around her. She reached into her pocket and pulled out an orange tube of lipstick, but a sudden gust of wind blew it away and into the sea.

Nami approached the blond marine, unperturbed by the cold despite her short dress. “Looks like someone didn’t listen to the forecast.” 

“I can still beat you—” Miki was cut off by a sudden explosion. “Fire Star!” And she fell off the Going Merry and into the sea.

Nami put away her staff, sighing in relief. “Well, that takes care of our first problem. Now to get everyone else.” Usopp agreed, running to the ship’s ladder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah this is real short and probably not worth the wait from the last one, but I wanted to do a chapter per fight and this is really all I can say about this fight. I was going to double-feature it with Robin's fight but really you guys should get an update at some point so... here it is.
> 
> Up next: Robin and Shiki!


End file.
